Confession in a Mother's Diary
by MaureenT
Summary: While reading his mother's diary, Daniel discovers a shocking secret, one that dramatically changes his life. This is a Gen fic, no romance or UST. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Confession in a Mother's Diary **

**Author:** MaureenT  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Categories:** Angst, Drama, Alternate Universe  
**Content Warning:** Mild Profanity  
**Spoilers:** Stargate Movie, Torment of Tantalus, Need, Past and Present, Crystal Skull, Nemesis

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

Daniel sat at his desk and gazed at the pile of boxes stacked on the floor. The boxes held the personal possessions of Nicholas Ballard, Daniel's grandfather. They'd come from the facility that had been Nick's home for twenty years, a home he would not be returning to. Nick was gone, now living in an alternate dimension with the "giant aliens" that he had spent so many years trying to find again.

A part of Daniel didn't want to go through the boxes, feeling that he should just store them away somewhere until Nick's return . . . if he ever returned. But curiosity finally got the better of the archeologist, and he began looking through the things. He was on the third box when he found a book that had the word "Diary" inscribed on the cover in gold lettering. The pale pink color of the diary meant that it couldn't possibly have been Nick's. Could it have belonged to Nick's wife, the grandmother Daniel never knew? Figuring that it wouldn't do any harm to find out, he took a peek inside the front cover. He drew in a sharp breath upon seeing the name written there: Claire Ballard. The diary had belonged to Daniel's mother. It was apparently an old diary, started sometime before Claire married Daniel's father.

Daniel stared at the book, his conscience grappling with his desire to know what was inside. There were so many things he didn't know about his mother, things about her life before Daniel was born, things about her hopes, fears, and dreams. He had been so young when his parents died that they'd never really talked to him about such things. And he wanted to know, wanted a bigger picture of the woman who had been at the center of his existence for the first eight years of his life.

At last deciding that his mom wouldn't mind if he looked at the diary, Daniel turned the page and began to read. The diary had been started just a couple of months before Claire met Melburn. Once it reached that point, most of the entries featured him in a starring role. Daniel smiled at some of his mother's comments about the man that she would one day marry.

Daniel soon discovered something he never knew. Nick had not approved of the relationship between Claire and Melburn, believing that the man wasn't good enough for his daughter. Claire said in her diary that she thought the real reason was that, instead of the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica, Melburn's passions lie in Egyptology, and he was luring Claire away from following in her father's footsteps. Claire revealed in her diary that, unknown to her father, she had already been developing more of an interest in Ancient Egypt than the civilization of the Maya that fascinated Nick so much.

Finally, the diary got to the part where Melburn proposed to Claire. It expressed her joy and excitement. Several pages later, however, those feelings changed. The two of them had broken up after having a huge fight. Angry and upset, Claire went off to Venice Beach to spend some time with a school friend of hers and relax on the beach.

What Daniel read a couple of pages later shocked him.

_"I met someone last night,"_ Claire wrote. _"Jean and I went to a club, one of those noisy places with fast dancing. It really isn't the kind of place I like, but I just wanted to get my mind off Mel. But I finally couldn't stand it anymore and went outside for some air. There was a man outside, quite good-looking, with reddish hair. He smiled and nodded at me, but there was a kind of sadness about him. I don't know why, but I walked over to him, and we got into a conversation. I found out that he was in the Air Force and that he'd just broken up with his girlfriend. Well, that led to me pouring my heart out about Mel. He really seemed to understand and care. We decided to go someplace nicer. After saying goodbye to Jean, I went with him to another club, a much classier place with slow music and slow dancing. We were there for hours, talking about ourselves, our families. It was really nice. _

_"But then I made a terrible mistake. I went to his motel room with him, and we made love. When I told him it was my first time, he was so gentle with me. He made it beautiful and wonderful, a night I know I'll never forget. I know that the only reason it happened was that we were both hurting and needed something to take the pain away. I can't blame him for it. He didn't push me into it. I wanted it just as much as he did. But it should never have happened. He was just on leave and would be going home the next day, and, in a few days, I'd be going home, too. I knew that I'd probably never see him again. _

_"This morning, I went with him to the airport. We said goodbye, and I watched him fly away." _

Daniel was surprised by what he'd just read, his mother's confession of a one-night-stand. Not that such a thing was never done back then. It was the sixties, when both men and women were starting to shake the bonds that had been placed upon sexuality for so many years. But the fact that it was his own mother shed a different light on the incident.

Daniel turned to the next page, noting that the date of the entry said it was just a couple of days later.

_"Mel called. We talked for a long time, during most of which I cried. I came back home, and we talked some more." _

Claire went on to recount that she and Mel got back together that very day, consummating their love in a glorious night of lovemaking. The pages that followed were about the renewal of their engagement and their happiness at being back together.

_"I'm pregnant,"_ Claire announced several pages later. _"I just told Mel. He was surprised, but he handled it well. He said that we should get married right away, and I agreed. We're heading off to Las Vegas tomorrow. I'm sad that my friends won't be there to witness our union, but I'm not sad that Dad won't be there. He's been so difficult about the whole thing with Mel that I'm not sure he'd even have been there if we had a regular wedding. Well, to heck with him. I love Mel, and I'm going to marry him. Tomorrow, I will be Mrs. Claire Jackson. Oh, just the sound of that makes me so happy." _

Smiling, Daniel continued reading. The pages that followed talked about their married life and the digs they worked on.

And then came Daniel's birth. He read the words of joy that his mother inscribed in the book, the love she felt for him the instant she laid eyes upon him. From that point on, Daniel was the main subject of many of the entries.

_"Mel is completely smitten with Daniel,"_ Claire wrote a while later, when Daniel was around six months old. _"He's constantly playing with him, making silly faces and noises just to make Danny laugh. It's amazing how such a serious, mature man can make a complete fool out of himself all to make his child laugh. Watching them together, I know that I'll never be able to tell Mel the truth that I've finally had to accept, the truth I knew somewhere deep in my heart the moment I saw that reddish tint in Danny's hair. How could I ever tell Mel that Danny isn't his son?" _

Daniel's breath froze in his lungs, his whole body stilling. He stared at the words in disbelief, shaken to the very core by what he'd just learned. Feeling numb, he read the next paragraph.

_"From the day I learned that I was pregnant, I have known that there was a fifty percent chance that Danny was not Mel's child, but I had hoped so much that he was. Even after Danny's birth and the red in his hair became evident, I still wanted to believe that he was Mel's. I ignored all the comments people made about not seeing any of Mel's features in Danny. But I just can't deny it anymore. I have to accept the truth. But no one else ever needs to know. Mel is Danny's father in all the ways that truly matter." _

The words on the page blurred as Daniel's eyes lost focus. For all his life, he had been secure in the knowledge that he was the son of Claire and Melburn Jackson. He'd had no reason to doubt that. Though his mom's hair had been blonde and his father's black, Daniel had never wondered about the red highlights that had been quite evident in his hair when he was younger, highlights that had gradually faded the older he got and the darker his hair became.

Now that Daniel knew the truth, he didn't know what to do. Somewhere out in the world might still live a man who was Daniel's biological father. He'd been in the Air Force when Claire met him. Maybe he still was. Would Daniel be able to find him?

Daniel picked up the book and skimmed through the pages that talked about the man Claire had one night of passion with. He realized that she never mentioned the guy's name. He jumped forward to the pages after the point he'd stopped reading and saw that she never again wrote about Daniel's parentage.

Closing the book, Daniel stared at the cover. He had no name, no clue to where the guy had been stationed. All he knew what that the man who fathered him had spent his leave in the fall of 1964 in Venice Beach, California and that he had reddish hair. That wasn't much to go on, especially after all these years.

But should Daniel even pursue this? Did he even want to know who that man was? Melburn Jackson might not have fathered him, but he was still Daniel's father in his heart. He was the man who loved him, guided him, taught him so many things about Egypt and the rest of the world. Wouldn't any attempt to find Daniel's biological father be a betrayal of that relationship, those memories?

"Daniel, are you okay?"

The archeologist started and looked up. Sam was standing just a few feet away, gazing at him in concern.

"Um . . . yeah. I'm . . . I'm okay."

Sam frowned. "You don't sound all that sure, and your expression a moment ago certainly didn't look like you were okay."

Daniel sighed and began toying with the diary. "I was, uh . . . reading my mom's diary. It was in with Nick's stuff."

Sam sat down. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently, knowing that the pain of losing his parents was still buried deep inside. That had been all too clear during the events on P7J-989, when the Keeper forced him to relive that horrible day over and over again.

Daniel didn't look at her. "It, um . . . it was nice reading Mom's thoughts, really learning who she was on the inside. It's an old diary, starting before she met my da—" Daniel's voice stumbled. "My dad. It goes through their engagement, the wedding, my birth and almost a year beyond."

Sam smiled. "That's nice. I bet it was really interesting reading all that."

"Sam, I . . . I found out something, and, now, I don't know what to do."

The astrophysicist frowned. "What did you find out?"

Daniel finally looked at her. "I found out that I'm not Melburn Jackson's son, that I'm the product of a one-night-stand my mother had after she and Melburn had a big fight and broke up."

Sam's eyes widened. "Oh . . . my," she breathed.

"Yeah. Ironically, he was in the Air Force. Talk about a coincidence."

"But, Daniel, that means that your real father might still be alive."

"I know."

"Holy Hannah. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I have no name, no details on who he was, where he was stationed. How would I find him . . . and should I even try?"

Sam could understand his hesitancy to go looking for the man who fathered him. If he actually succeeded, it was unlikely that the guy would be all that happy to know that he had an illegitimate son, the result of a one-night-stand with a woman who'd probably meant nothing to him.

"I need to think about this, Sam," Daniel said.

She nodded and got to her feet. "Of course. But, Daniel, if you need to talk about it, you can come to me at any time. Okay?"

Daniel looked up at her and gave her a little smile. "Thanks, Sam."

* * *

Over the next two days, Daniel's mind was not really on his work. It took a while, but Jack finally noticed.

"Okay, so what's up with you?" he asked.

Daniel looked at him. "What do you mean what's up with me?"

"You've been distracted lately. Twice now I've come into your office and found you staring at nothing. You usually don't stare at nothing. Your eyes are generally aimed at some book, artifact or other such thing. So, I ask again. What's up with you?"

Daniel frowned. "Have you ever considered that it might be personal?"

Jack straddled a chair. "Well, yeah. Look, Daniel. If you don't want to talk about it, I'm not gonna push, but you need to either resolve whatever it is or move on. Hammond happened to mention that you had two spelling errors in your last report."

"I did?"

"Doctor Daniel Jackson having spelling errors in his report? That's pretty much tantamount to Earth's sun rising in the west or all the Goa'uld never doing anything bad again."

"I think those two things are a lot more unbelievable, Jack."

"Only just barely."

Daniel sighed and stared at the top of his desk. "What would you do if you ever discovered that you weren't really who you always thought you were?"

"I can't say, Daniel. It depends on what you mean. Did you discover that you're actually the son of alien visitors? That wouldn't surprise me much."

"No, I discovered that I'm the illegitimate son of a man my mother spent only one night with."

Jack's jaw dropped. "Uhhh . . . okay." He struggled for words. "Um . . . damn. That's. . . ."

Daniel sighed again. "Yeah."

"How did you find out?"

"My mother's diary. It was in with Nick's things."

"Do you know who the guy was?"

Daniel shook his head. "She never said his name. He was in the Air Force."

"Well, that's . . . ironic."

"I've been trying to decide what to do. I should just forget about the whole thing."

Jack leaned forward. "Daniel, you just found out that the man you thought was your father wasn't and that the man who really fathered you is some guy who might still be alive. I don't see how you can forget something like that."

Daniel didn't respond, continuing to stare at the desk with a frown knitting his brow. "So, what do I do?" he finally asked. "My chances of finding him are pretty poor, and, even if I do, I can't just walk up to him and say, 'Hi, Dad. I'm your illegitimate son.'"

"No, a less direct approach would probably work better. The thing is, Daniel, would you be able to just walk away from this and never even try to find him? He's your father."

"No, Melburn Jackson was my father. This guy was . . . was some stranger I never knew." Daniel looked at Jack. "What would you do if you were me?"

"Well, putting aside the fact that just the thought of me being you gives me the willies, if I was in your position, I'd want to know."

Daniel's gaze went off to a spot across the room.

"So, how much do you know about this guy?" Jack asked.

"Not much." Daniel told him what little he did know.

"Well, you're right. It wouldn't be easy, but it's probably not impossible. We know that he was apparently stationed stateside at the time he met your mother, which narrows it down a bit. He wasn't married, that is unless he lied about just having broken up with his girlfriend. We'd have to look at all the records of the men who were stationed in the States in the fall of '64. It would be a big list, but, since service records give hair color, we'd be able to narrow it down quite a lot."

Daniel stared at him. "We?"

"Yes, we. I'm a colonel and can get records you can't, even with your high security clearance."

"And what do I do if we actually manage to find him?"

"That's going to be up to you, Daniel. You should talk to General Hammond about this."

"What? Why?"

"Because he's a general and can get access to even more info than me and can cut through any red tape faster. It might take a bit to track the guy down if he's no longer in the military."

Daniel shook his head. "I'd feel really uncomfortable about that."

Jack shrugged. "It's up to you." He got to his feet. "If you decide you want to do this, let me know."

* * *

The next day, Daniel went to General Hammond's office.

"Um . . . sir, could I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

"Certainly, Doctor Jackson. Come in."

Daniel sat in the chair across from the desk, nervously toying with the envelope in his hands.

"Sir, I, um, recently found out something. Among the personal items of my grandfather's was an old diary that belonged to my mother. In reading it, I discovered something about myself."

Hammond watched the man before him, seeing how ill-at-ease he was.

"Go on, Son," he said gently, encouragingly.

"I, uh . . ." Daniel drew in a deep breath. "I found out that Melburn Jackson wasn't my biological father, that I'm actually the child of a man my mother spent a night with before she married Melburn."

Surprised by the admission, the general took a moment to speak. "I see. I can understand how upsetting that would be to you."

Daniel nodded. "Since I found out, I've been trying to decide what to do. He was in the Air Force."

"And you're considering trying to find him?"

"Yeah. Maybe it's a mistake, but if I don't at least try, I'll always wonder who he was. Jack suggested that I come to you, that you might be able to help in the search since you'd have access to record and files that he wouldn't. I know very little about the guy, not even his name. I'd understand if you said you didn't want to get involved."

General Hammond gazed into the eyes of the young man, seeing all the doubts and turmoil in the blue depths.

"I'll be happy to do what I can to help, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel relaxed fractionally. He handed the envelope to the man. "This is all the information I have. It's pretty sketchy."

"I'll take a look at it later and see what I can do."

"Thank you, sir." Daniel got to his feet. "I really appreciate this."

The archeologist went back to his office and tried to get some work done. At around seven p.m., he decided to go on home. After dinner, he turned on the TV, but soon turned it right back off, unable to concentrate. He then got one of his books and attempted to read. He didn't fare much better with that.

What was he going to do if they found his biological father and it turned out that the man was still alive? Would he talk to the guy or just leave it at that and continue with his life? He certainly was not so naive as to think that his father would welcome him with open arms. It would very likely be just the opposite. Daniel didn't need that, didn't need more rejection, loss and pain in his life.

It was going on ten when the doorbell rang. Daniel was surprised to see that it was General Hammond.

"I hope I didn't disturb you," the man said.

"Um, no, not at all. Come in."

The general came into the apartment.

"Can I get you something?" Daniel asked.

"No thank you." Hammond turned to him. "This is about your biological father."

Daniel's eyes widened. "Don't tell me that you've found him already."

"Yes. Yes, I have. It . . . turns out that I know him." He gestured toward the couch. "Come sit down."

The two men took a seat.

"At the time he met your mother, your father was a young airman who'd just broken up with the woman he'd been dating for two years. He was on his last leave before being transferred to a new post and decided to go to the coast to clear his head and find some peace. That's where he met your mother. She was a beautiful, vibrant woman who was going through the same pain of a failed relationship. Though he knew it shouldn't have happened, he made love with her that very night. The next day, he left and never saw her again. A month later, he and his girlfriend got back together, and they were married eight months after that. He never knew that the one night he spent with your mother produced a son."

Daniel was staring at the floor. "Is he still alive?"

"Yes, he's still alive." Hammond paused. "Daniel." He waited for the archeologist to look at him. "I was that young airman, Daniel. I'm your father." 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Daniel sat frozen in utter shock. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move, his mind numb with the words the man before him had just spoken.

"I never knew, Daniel," Hammond continued. "I just glanced at the names of your parents in your file, and I only knew your mother by her first name when I met her, so even if I'd seen her maiden name, I still wouldn't have known it was her. She always called her ex-fiance 'Mel', never 'Melburn', so I didn't see the connection there either. Perhaps I should have, but it's been so many years." The man leaned forward, an earnest look in his eyes. "Daniel, if I'd known, if I'd had any idea that you might possibly be my son, I'd have found out if it was true and would have told you."

"Oh, God," Daniel finally gasped. General Hammond was his father? It seemed so unreal, so unbelievable. "I-I-I can't believe this. How can this be real?"

Hammond laid a gentle hand on Daniel's arm. "I understand how you feel, Daniel. When I read what you'd written on that sheet and suddenly realized that the man it was talking about was me, I couldn't believe it either. I don't know how long it was that I just sat there in shock."

"W-what does this mean? What do we do? What do _I_ do?"

"You do what your heart tells you to, Daniel. I may have been the man who fathered you, but I would never expect you to look upon me as a father. Your father was Melburn Jackson. That hasn't changed." George looked deep into Daniel's eyes. "But now that I know that you are my son, I cannot ignore it. My wife and I never had a son. I love my daughters dearly, but I always wished that I could have had a son to raise, to take that special kind of pride in that a man can only feel for a son." He smiled softly, cupping Daniel's cheek. "And I could not possibly have wished for a finer son than you."

Suddenly, tears flooded Daniel's eyes as his emotions spilled over. In the next moment, he was pulled into the arms of the man who was his father. George Hammond held Daniel close, feeling his heart open wide for this brilliant, courageous, selfless young man whom he had long deeply admired, liked and respected, but who was now something so much more to him. This was his son, his flesh and blood, and it filled him with joy to know that. He didn't care what this would mean in regards to the SGC. He didn't care how people would talk if they learned about it. He just knew that he wanted to have a bigger part in Daniel's life, to truly be his father in all ways.

Daniel finally drew away from him, looking embarrassed and almost shy. He still didn't know what to do about this. A part of him was saying that it would be best if they told no one and just carried on like before. But another part of him, the deeper part, yearned for what fully embracing this man as his father would mean. He longed to have someone in his life who really was family, someone tied to him not only by blood, but also by love. He had the first with Nick, but the second had always been in short supply, at least on Nick's end. With General Hammond. . . . God, should he still be thinking of the man by his title? This was his father! That thought whirled through Daniel's mind again.

He gave a tiny, choked laugh. "I . . . I don't know what to call you now."

The general smiled. "Well, you could try 'George' on for size."

"George. That feels . . . weird."

The general chuckled. "I can imagine it does." He sobered. "Like I said, Daniel. I don't expect anything from you. If you want to leave our relationship like it is, I'll understand."

Daniel met his eyes. "What do _you_ want? If people found out about this. . . ."

"They'd talk. Yes, I am very aware of that. I've already thought of all the comments that would be made, most of them behind my back, of course."

"Wouldn't that make it hard for you? I mean, you're the base commander, and being respected by the personnel would be important."

George gave Daniel a gentle smile. "Daniel, it was over thirty-six years ago, and I was a young airman in the Armed Forces who was on leave. I'm certain that I am not the only man back then who fathered a child out of wedlock under similar circumstances."

Daniel's lips curved upward. "No, you probably weren't."

"Now, if I or your mother had been married at the time, then it would be a different story. But then, it would never have happened at all, if that had been the case." George looked into his son's eyes. "What I would like, Daniel, is to someday be a father to you in more ways than just by blood. I want to bring you into my family. You have two half-sisters and two nieces whom I know would all love you."

Daniel smiled a bit more broadly. "I didn't even think about that. Growing up, I always wanted a brother or sister, and, after Mom and Dad died, having a sibling would have made things so much less lonely for me, although I don't know if Social Services would have kept us together. Some of the families I stayed with had other kids, but it wasn't the same as having a real brother or sister."

The statement saddened George. If he had only known about Daniel back then, he'd have taken the boy into his home and given Daniel all the love he deserved. But there was no sense in having such regrets. What was important was that he knew now.

George touched his son's arm. "Think about it, Daniel. I won't pressure you. In fact, I won't even talk to you again about this until you decide what you want to do. Take all the time you need."

"Um . . . George, what would this mean in regards to the SGC, having your own son under your command?"

"There are no regulations against it, and the fact that you're a civilian makes it even easier. That shouldn't be an issue."

Daniel nodded. "Okay."

George got to his feet, as did Daniel.

"Well, I'll let you get to bed," the general said. "Would you like tomorrow off? I know that you'll be off this weekend, but I figured you might want some extra time to think about things, get it all settled in your mind."

Daniel's first instinct was to say no, that he'd rather work, but how much work would he really get done? Then there was the fact that if Sam saw him, she'd know something was up. Jack would probably see it, too. Daniel knew that, sooner or later, he'd have to tell his teammates about this, but he wasn't quite ready for that yet. Perhaps it would be better to take the day off.

"Thanks. I think I'll take you up on that," he said.

George nodded. "Then I'll see you on Monday."

* * *

By the time Friday evening arrived, Daniel's apartment was cleaner than it had been since the day he moved in. Unable to sit still, the archeologist had cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more, doing even nasty chores that he'd been putting off, like clearing out the ash in his fireplace. He'd have cleaned the chimney, too, if it wasn't in the lease that it had to be done by a professional chimney sweep service.

As he cleaned, he also thought. In the space of one day, a major part of his life had changed. He'd gone from being an orphan with only an absentee grandfather to being a man with a father, two half-sisters and two nieces. It would be enough to overwhelm anyone. What's more, the man who hadn't even known about their relationship until yesterday wanted to really be his father, to be his family. Deep down inside Daniel, a voice was crying out in joy at the thought of having a father again, having a real family.

Though he cared about Kasuf and Skaara a great deal, Daniel had never felt the deep connection with them that he'd felt with his own parents. He had always been Kasuf's "Good Son", a title bestowed on a son-in-law. He'd never been "Son" to the man. To Skaara, he had always been "the husband of my sister", never truly a brother. Not that Kasuf and Skaara hadn't cared about him. There had just been that bit of distance between them, the difference between a connection by blood and a connection by marriage. And, now that Sha're was dead, even that connection no longer really existed.

During that year he'd had with Sha're, Daniel had discovered that he liked being part of a family. It had been so very long since he'd had that, never finding it in the foster homes he'd lived in. To have that again would be wonderful.

But would welcoming Hammond as his father mean that Daniel was belittling what the man who raised him had been to him? Even knowing what he did, Daniel still thought of Melburn Jackson as his father. Would it be possible to give those feelings to a second man?

Daniel was in the midst of fixing his dinner when there was a knock on the door. It turned out to be his teammates. Sam was carrying a pizza, and Jack had a six-pack of beer.

"Hey, there," the colonel greeted. "I see that you're not sick or anything."

Daniel stepped aside to let them in. "Um, no. Why would you think I was sick?"

"Because you weren't at work today," Sam replied. "General Hammond told us that he gave you the day off, but he didn't say why."

"Oh. Uh . . . I had a lot to think about."

"About this stuff with your father?" Jack asked. He saw Daniel's eyes glance at Teal'c. "He knows. I told him. I hope you don't mind."

Daniel wasn't surprised. "No, it's okay."

"It is understandable that learning the truth of your parentage would prey heavily on your mind," Teal'c said. "If I had learned that I was sired by a man other than the one whom I believed to be my father, it would greatly disturb me."

"Me, too," Sam said. "I honestly don't know what I'd do."

Jack took the pizza into the dining room. "Come on. Let's eat this before it gets cold."

"Um, actually, I have something on the stove that I was fixing," Daniel told him.

"Stick it in the fridge. You can eat it tomorrow."

Daniel shrugged and did as the man asked.

They were over halfway through the pizza when Jack finally asked the question Daniel had been waiting for.

"So, did Hammond say he'd help find your father?"

Daniel stared at his pizza. "Um . . . yeah."

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Sam asked. "Have you changed your mind?"

"No. It's, uh. . . ." He took a deep breath. "We . . . already know who it is."

Jack's eyebrows lifted. "Already? Wow, that was fast." He studied the way Daniel was staring at his food. "Daniel, please, _please_ tell me it isn't someone really detestable, like Kinsey."

Daniel's head shot up. "God, Jack. That wouldn't be funny even on my best day."

"It couldn't be Senator Kinsey, sir," Sam said. "He never served in the military."

"Thank God for that," Jack muttered. "Okay, so then who is it?"

Daniel looked at him. "You might want a few more beers in you before I answer that, Jack."

"That big, huh?" Jack grinned. "Is it the president? Now, that would be pretty darn cool. Just think of what a familial connection to the presidency could get us. I'm thinking a bigger budget for starters, more visits to the White House, perhaps weekends at Camp David."

"No, it's not the president, Jack. It's bigger than that."

Sam eyebrows rose. "Bigger than the president?"

"What could be bigger than the president?" Jack wanted to know.

"Well, on a global scale, no, it's not bigger, but, on a personal scale, I'd say it is."

Jack picked up his slice of pizza. "Daniel, just spit it out, will you? You're confusing the hell out of me."

Daniel looked at his friends, his eyes coming to rest on the leader of SG-1. "It's General Hammond, Jack. General Hammond is my father."

Three pieces of pizza that had been on their way to three mouths stopped dead, those three mouths hanging open as if permanently frozen in the act of waiting to take a bite.

"G-General Hammond is your father?" Sam squeaked.

Daniel nodded. "He figured it out as soon as I gave him what little information I had."

Jack's pizza fell back on his plate. "Holy crap! Never in a million years would I have seen this coming."

"It is, indeed, most surprising," Teal'c said.

"Holy Hannah," murmured Sam. "Daniel, I can't even imagine how you must have felt when you found out."

"It was . . . pretty shocking."

"So, what does this mean? I mean, what does the general want to do about it?"

Daniel's gaze fell to the table. "He . . . he wants to be my father, _really_ my father. He wants me to be part of his family."

Sam laid her hand on his arm. "Oh, Daniel. That has to make you happy . . . doesn't it?"

"A big part of me, yes. It's just so overwhelming, Sam. In some ways, I still can't believe it."

"Well, I will say one thing," Jack said. "I don't think you could have a better father than Hammond. He's a great man."

Daniel nodded. "Yes, he is. A lot of guys in his position would prefer to ignore the whole thing. They certainly wouldn't be happy about it. But he _was_ happy. He was honestly, genuinely happy."

Sam smiled and hugged him. "How could he not be happy to have you for a son, Daniel?" she said softly.

"Yeah, you may be a pain in the ass, but you're a good guy," Jack remarked. "He could definitely do worse."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "If you were my son, I would have great pride in you, Daniel Jackson."

Startled and embarrassed, Daniel stammered his thanks.

"And you know what's scary?" Jack asked. "Teal'c's actually old enough to be your father, your _grand_father, in fact. Heck, he could even be your _great_ grand. . . ." Jack's voice came to a halt when he noticed the way Teal'c was looking at him.

"What are you going to do about this, Daniel?" Sam asked.

"I haven't made up my mind. There are just so many things to consider. If we make this public knowledge, it will change my life at the SGC. I'll be the base commander's illegitimate son. You know that's going to change the way everyone acts around me."

"Boy howdy, will it ever," Jack agreed, "at least for a while. In time, people will get used to it, and you'll go back to just being Doctor Jackson."

Sam gazed into her best friend's eyes. "Daniel, what do you want, _really_ want?"

"I . . . I don't know. I've been thinking about it all day. In my heart, Melburn Jackson will always be my father. I keep thinking about that, wondering how it would seem for me to let another man take that place in my life. It would almost be like I was cheating on Dad."

"Daniel, you can't look at it like that. Letting General Hammond be your father in every way doesn't mean that you love your other father any less. If you'd been adopted as a child, don't you think that you would have come to love your adoptive parents and thought of them as your family?"

"Yes, I guess I would have."

"Then this is no different."

Daniel stared at the table. "I just keep wondering what my dad would think."

Jack was the one who responded. "Well, Daniel, speaking as a father, if I was in Melburn Jackson's position – putting aside the fact that I'd be dead – I would probably be jealous at first, but then I'd think about what it would mean for my son to have a father again, to have a _family_ again. Any man who truly loved his child would want that for them."

Daniel's gaze went off to a spot across the room. "When I was married to Sha're, it was the first time I'd felt like I was part of a family since my parents died, and it . . . it felt good, even if it was only by marriage. When she was taken, I lost all that."

Sam gazed at him with deep sympathy. "It would feel good to have it back, wouldn't it."

Daniel sighed. "Yes. Yes, it would."

"Then it seems to me, Daniel Jackson, that there is only one correct decision that you can make," Teal'c stated.

* * *

The next morning, Daniel called the base to speak to General Hammond. He learned that it was the general's day off. After thinking about it for a while, he decided to go over to the man's house. George smiled brightly upon seeing him.

"Daniel. What a wonderful surprise. Come in."

Daniel entered the house, wandering around to look at things. George remained silent, figuring that the archeologist had something to say and needed to be given the space and time to say it.

"I, um . . . have been thinking a lot about this whole thing," Daniel finally said. "There have been just so many things to think about, what it all means, how things are going to change, and. . . ." He turned to George. "Melburn Jackson will always be my father. That will never change. But I finally came to the conclusion that I . . . that I really want this. I want . . ." his voice quavered, "I want you to be my dad."

With a joyful smile, George came forward and pulled his son into a long, tight hug. Daniel hugged him right back. There were tears in more than one pair of eyes by the time they drew apart.

George laughed, holding Daniel at arms' length. "I'm glad, Son."

That last word made Daniel's chest tighten. It wasn't the first time the general had called him that, but, this time, it was more than just a form of address.

"Come on. Let's go sit down," George said. They both took a seat on the sofa.

"How are we going to tell everyone at the base about this?" Daniel asked. "I mean, I don't think you're going to want to announce it over the P.A. system."

George smiled. "No, that was not my intention. There is actually something that needs to be done first. Though I am certain that you are my son, others may want proof. We will need to get tests done to confirm it. We could go outside the base for that or have Doctor Fraiser do it confidentially."

"I think I'd rather have Janet do it, if that's okay with you."

George nodded. "I agree. Once that proof is in hand, you and I will have to talk about how we want to announce this. I'd let the base grapevine spread the news, but that would most likely lead to a great deal of misconceptions and faulty assumptions. I will have to inform the president and several others personally."

"Oh boy. I can just imagine what Senator Kinsey is going to say."

George frowned. He didn't much care for the man who had nearly shut down the program for good. "To be blunt, Daniel, I don't give a damn what the senator says." He grasped Daniel's upper arm. "You are my son, and nothing anyone says is going to lessen the joy I have in that fact."

Daniel smiled, feeling a bubble of happiness burst inside him. "Dad," he murmured, finding the word coming to his lips with surprising ease. And it felt really good to say it. He watched his father's eyes alight with joy upon hearing the word.

"I want you to meet Kate and Veronica as soon as possible," the man said, "Kayla and Tessa, too."

Daniel began getting nervous. "Um . . . how are they going to react to the news? I know that you didn't really cheat on their mother since you two were broken up at the time, but still. . . ."

"They'll be surprised, of course, but I'm sure they'll warm up to the idea. And, once they get to know you, I know that they'll come to love you."

Daniel stayed for lunch. The two men talked throughout the meal and for well over half the afternoon, getting to know each other much better, revealing private things that they rarely talked about to others. Daniel told his father all that Claire had said in her diary about him and Daniel's parentage.

As the time passed, Daniel found himself relaxing, his spirit lightening. He'd always liked and respected the general, seeing in the man qualities that were rare in the military, especially in someone of such high rank. But, now, knowing that this man was his father, Daniel was feeling so much more. It seemed strange that just the knowledge that Hammond was his father would make him feel so much closer to the man, yet it was. He wanted to spend more time with him, do the kind of things that a father and son did together.

"You look pensive, Son," George asked.

"Do I? I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"I've always liked and respected you a great deal. You're a good man, someone who almost never lets his military side overrule his morality and humanity. When I heard you talking to your granddaughter, telling Kayla that you couldn't come to her school play because a very close friend of yours was lost, it . . . it really affected me. It felt good to know that you cared about me like that."

George laid a hand upon Daniel's forearm, squeezing it gently. "Yes, I did care, Daniel. I care about all the men and women under my command, but there has been a special place in my heart for you almost from the beginning. I now think that something deep inside me knew even then that you were my child."

"You did? I-I mean you do?" Daniel said in surprise.

George smiled. "Yes, I do. There are things the heart senses that we cannot hope to explain."

The archeologist's gaze dropped to the floor. "I've been thinking about how knowing you're my father changes things, how much I feel."

George nodded in understanding. "It's the same way for me, Daniel. I think it's only natural for us to feel that way. It is nothing to be embarrassed or uncomfortable about." He smiled. "In fact, I have every intention of reveling in it."

The statement surprised Daniel a bit, and he looked at the man. George looked back at him with warmth and tenderness. Daniel felt himself relax again and returned his father's smile.

They went back to their previous discussion, chatting for another half-hour. Finally, Daniel decided that it was time for him to go home. George accompanied him to the door.

Before going through, Daniel turned back to the general. "Um . . . Dad?"

George hid a secret smile at hearing Daniel call him 'Dad' again. "Yes, Daniel?"

"I'm glad that I read Mom's diary."

This time, George didn't hide his smile. "I am, too, Son."

* * *

The next day, father and son went to the infirmary together.

"Doctor Fraiser, we need to speak to you in private," the general said.

"Of course, sir," Janet responded.

"So, what is this about?" she asked once they were all in her office and the door closed.

"Daniel and I need you to perform a test," George replied.

Janet frowned. "Sir, do you have reason to believe that the two of you were exposed to something?"

George shook his head. "No, it's nothing like that, Janet. The test we need you to perform is one for paternity."

Janet's large brown eyes got even bigger. "P-paternity, sir?"

"Yes. Daniel discovered something that led to me realizing that he is my son."

Janet sat down behind her desk rather abruptly. "Your . . . your son?"

"The child born of a single night with the woman who was his mother."

"Oh . . . my goodness," Janet breathed. She looked back and forth between them. "And neither of you suspected this before now?"

"No," Daniel replied. "We'd never have known about it if my mom's diary hadn't been in with my grandfather's things."

"This had to be a big shock to both of you."

"That's putting it mildly."

Janet stared at them more closely. "How certain are you of this?"

"I am quite positive that Daniel is my son," George replied. "The only reason for this test is so that there will be medical proof of it."

Janet nodded. "All right. I can do the test myself. I assume that you want to keep this confidential."

"For now. Once the results are back and I have more than my word for this, I do not intend to keep it a secret. I have no shame for what happened all those years ago," George's eyes went to Daniel, "and I feel nothing but pride and joy that Daniel is my son."

Janet smiled, seeing the look that passed between the two men. She was totally blown away by this, but it certainly was not a bad thing. In fact, it could be a very good thing. It would be wonderful for Daniel to have a real family, people bonded to him by blood ties.

The doctor got two cotton swabs and took DNA samples from inside each of their mouths.

"I'll have to wait to process these, so I probably won't have the results back until tomorrow morning," she said. "I'll contact both of you when the results are in."

For the rest of the day, Daniel was on pins and needles. A little fear deep inside him was whispering that maybe it was a mistake, that his mother had been wrong about Daniel's parentage, and the test would show that there was no relationship between him and General Hammond. That thought hurt, way more than Daniel could have believed it would. He didn't realize until right then how desperately he wanted this, how much it meant to him.

The next morning, Janet called Daniel and George to her office.

"I've gotten the test results back," she said.

"And?" Daniel inquired, his stomach tightening.

The doctor smiled. "The test confirmed it. General Hammond is your father."

A wave of relief swept through Daniel. He looked at George, and the two men shared a smile.

Janet turned to her C.O. "Sir, how do you intend to announce this? If you'll forgive me for saying so, it's quite a bombshell."

"Yes, it is that, Doctor. Daniel and I need to discuss it, decide what the best way will be. In the meantime, we would appreciate it if you would keep this to yourself."

"Of course, sir."

Daniel and his father went to the archeologist's office. To make sure no one overheard their conversation, the door was closed.

"Okay, I have to admit that I've been worried about the test. I kept thinking that Mom might have been wrong, and I wasn't your son after all."

"I can understand that, Daniel. It's only natural."

"Were . . . you worried?"

"No, I wasn't. I had no doubt that you were my son."

Daniel took a seat behind his desk. "What was my mom like back when you met her?"

George sat down, a soft smile of remembrance on his face. "Ah, she was a lovely, brilliant, charming woman. I was quite taken with her almost immediately. I was in a lot of pain over my breakup with Margaret. Claire made me feel better. She made me laugh. I am not normally the kind of man who would have a one-night-stand with a woman, but that night I felt so drawn to her, and I needed something to take the pain away. Claire took it away. I do believe that, if circumstances had been different, I'd have chosen to continue our relationship." He met Daniel's eyes. "But then, she was still in love with Melburn, and I still loved Margaret, so it probably wouldn't have worked out. She and I were . . . ships that passed in the night." He smiled. "Two people who came together in a single night and created something wonderful."

Daniel dropped his gaze to the floor, not knowing what to say in response to that.

"So, shall we discuss how we're going to tell the news?" George asked.

"I should tell you that Jack, Sam and Teal'c already know."

"Yes, I assumed that. I figured you wouldn't keep it a secret from them for long."

"So, as for the rest of the base, um. . . . It sounds weird, but how about an email? That would be way better than an announcement over the P.A."

George thought about it. Announcing his relationship to Daniel via a base-wide memo might seem pretty odd, but it would certainly do the job, and it would make it possible for him to explain things in more detail. The last thing he wanted anyone to believe was that Daniel was the result of an extramarital affair.

"All right," the general said with a nod. "That's how we'll do it."

"When?"

"After I've called the president and several others. Tomorrow?"

"Okay." Daniel began fidgeting with a pen on his desk.

George gave him a look of sympathy and understanding. "Daniel, I know how hard this is probably going to be on you. I have the advantage that no one here will dare make an off-color remark around me, much less to my face. You don't have that advantage. People will say things, some of them not exactly polite. It's possible that, in the future, people will think that I'm showing favoritism to you. You need to be prepared for all that."

"I know. When I decided to give that symposium in Los Angeles, I knew that I was leaving myself open for a lot of remarks, insults and snide comments, but it didn't stop me from doing it. That lecture destroyed my standing in the archeological community, but it led to me joining the program and changing my life. What we're going to tell everyone will make it so that I can publicly be your son." Daniel looked straight into his father's eyes. "Any downside to that is worth it to me."

George smiled at him gently. "I feel the same way, Daniel." 


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

The president was pretty shocked when George gave him the news.

"Well, George, you've certainly surprised me with this one," he said. "So, how are you dealing with it?"

"I couldn't express how happy I am, sir. I have always wanted a son, and no man could ask for a finer one than Daniel. This knowledge has brought me such joy."

"Well, I'm happy for you, George. Of course, you know that there's gonna be a lot of talking about this."

"Yes, I know," the general responded.

"It may make things a bit uncomfortable at Stargate Command for a while."

"We're prepared for it, sir."

"Are you going to pass on the news to the rest of the people here in Washington who need to know or would you like me to do so?"

"I'll do it, sir. It's my responsibility."

"All right. If any of them give you attitude, just tell me, and I'll give them a proper dressing down."

George smiled slightly. "Yes, sir."

After hanging up with the president, George got busy making the rest of the calls. The reactions to the news varied quite a bit, although the universal response was great surprise.

And then came the call to Senator Robert Kinsey, the one call George had really been dreading. He'd just as soon have not made it, but as the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Kinsey would have found out sooner or later, and it was better for him to learn it directly from George.

The man's snide remarks weren't the least bit surprising to the general.

"Of course this means that Doctor Jackson will have to be removed from the program," the senator said, the tiniest hint of satisfaction in his voice.

"And why is that?"

"Because of the issue of your objectivity. It would seriously be put into question."

"Senator Kinsey, whether or not my objectivity would be questioned is something that I will deal with if and when the time comes. There are no Air Force regulations that state that a son or daughter cannot serve under the command of their father. Even if there was, Daniel is a civilian, so any such regulations would not apply to him."

"That may be so, but I still cannot condone it."

The general's voice hardened. "You have no say in the matter, Senator. You are not my boss. The President of the United States is, and he has no problem with Daniel continuing to work on this base. Therefore, I would suggest that you accept this and not attempt to get Daniel removed. Aside from the fact that he is my son, he is a very valuable member of the program. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a dinner date planned with my son that I don't want to be late for."

George took more than a little pleasure from hanging up on the man before Kinsey could say anything in reply. He went to Daniel's office.

"All done?" the archeologist asked.

"Yes, all the calls have been made."

"What did the president say?"

"He was surprised, of course, but also happy for me."

Daniel paused. "And Kinsey?"

George's face darkened. "Let's not talk about that and spoil the evening. So, are you ready to eat?"

Daniel smiled and stood. "Uh huh. I just finished the translation of that artifact SG-11 brought back from P2K-103."

George smiled. Daniel's skill with languages had always impressed him, but, now, he felt a great sense of pride in what the man could do. Daniel had definitely inherited his intellect from his mother.

Father and son were on their way to the elevator when they saw Jack, Sam and Teal'c coming in the opposite direction.

"Hello, sir," Jack greeted. "Daniel, we were just coming to see if you wanted to go get some dinner at O'Malley's."

"Actually, we were just on our way to dinner," Daniel responded.

Jack smiled. "Oh. Well, in that case, we won't keep you."

"Actually, Colonel, why don't all of us have dinner together?" George suggested. "O'Malley's sounds like a good idea."

"Are you sure, sir?" Sam said. "We wouldn't want to intrude."

"Nonsense. It wouldn't be an intrusion." George turned to his son. "You wouldn't mind, would you, Daniel?"

"No, not at all."

"All right, then it's settled."

Dinner was an interesting experience for Sam, Jack and Teal'c. They spent a lot of it watching Daniel and General Hammond interact and were surprised by how at ease the two seemed to be with each other, chatting away like an average father and son who had a good relationship. Any stranger would be surprised to learn that they'd only knowingly been father and son for a few days.

"Well, that was quite a pleasant evening," George said as they exited the restaurant. "We'll have to do it again sometime."

"Definitely, sir," Jack agreed.

"Um, when are you going to send out the email?" Daniel asked his father.

"First thing in the morning. I plan to compose it tonight." He gave Daniel's arm a comforting squeeze. "It may be rough for a bit, but it'll be fine, Daniel."

Daniel gave him a smile. "I know."

Wishing everyone a good night, the general left.

"What email were you talking about, Daniel?" Sam asked.

"He's going to send out a base-wide message to everyone about us."

Jack stared at him. "The general is going to tell everyone he's your father in a memo?"

"Well, how would you suggest we do it? We both agreed that doing it over the P.A. wouldn't be a good idea. If we let the base grapevine spread the news, you know what would happen. People would think that I was the bastard child of an adulterous affair. I don't want people thinking things like that about my mother or my father. This way, it will all get explained, and people will know the truth."

Sam nodded. "You're right. I think it is the best way to do it."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

"Well, I gotta run," Jack said. "There's a John Wayne western coming on in fifteen minutes that I don't want to miss. Teal'c? You want to join me or would you rather go on back to the base?"

"I will view the film with you, O'Neill. I find your culture's antiquated 'Cowboys and Indians' movies amusing."

"Amusing, huh? Well, whatever tickles your funny bone." Jack turned to the other members of the team. "See you guys tomorrow."

Daniel accompanied Sam to her car.

"Daniel, do you mind if I say something about you and General Hammond?" the major asked.

"No, of course not."

"I was really surprised tonight by how . . . open and familiar you were with each other. I had to keep reminding myself that you've only know about your relationship for a few days."

Daniel leaned back against Sam's car. "When I first found out, I didn't know how to act around him. I didn't even know what I should call him." He smiled. "He suggested that I try 'George'." The smile faded. "He has been so warm and accepting of this, Sam. He's welcomed me as his son with such completeness and . . . and joy. How could I not react to that?"

"Of course you couldn't, Daniel, and I think it's wonderful."

"The first time I called him 'Dad', it felt . . . right, and every time he calls me 'Son'. . . ."

Sam gave him a gentle smile. "If feels good."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah. He wants me to meet his daughters and grandchildren as soon as possible."

Sam's smile brightened. "Hey, that's right. You now have sisters and nieces, too."

Daniel gave a little laugh. "Yes, an instant family. I'm pretty nervous about meeting them, though. It's going to be a big shock for them, and I have to wonder how they're going to feel about suddenly having a big brother."

"Daniel, it might be a shock to them, and it might take a while for them to get used to the idea, but trust me when I say that, once they've met you and come to know you, they will love having you for a brother."

Daniel ducked his head. "I'm worried that they'll be jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?"

"Of the fact that I work with their father, that he spends more time with me than with them and that I know things about him and his job that they can't be told. In one of the foster families I lived with, the man was a teacher. He was fascinated by my mind, especially my ability with languages. He really got involved with me, spending hours tutoring me. They had a son, and he got really jealous, to the point that he, um. . . ."

"What, Daniel?"

"He got together with one of his friends and beat me up one day after school."

"Oh, Daniel. I'm so sorry."

"Social Services took me out of the home right away. Obviously, Kate and Veronica aren't going to beat me up, but I do worry about them getting jealous of the time Dad and I spend together, the secrets we share that they can't ever know."

Sam could understand Daniel's concern. She couldn't say that it would not happen. Sibling jealousy was a fact of life.

"I guess that you and General Hammond will just have to deal with it if it happens."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

Daniel had been on base for around half an hour the next morning when the memo appeared in his inbox. It was addressed to all military and civilian personnel and entitled, "An Announcement of a Personal Nature."

_"What I am about to reveal to all of you is not something that a general would normally reveal to the people under his command,"_ the memo began. _"My reason for telling you will soon become apparent. _

_"Thirty-six years ago, when I was a young, unmarried airman, I had a very brief relationship with a beautiful young woman while I was on leave. After we said goodbye, and I left for home, we never saw each other again. She married another man soon after that. Several months later, I was married as well. What I didn't know, what I was unaware of until just a few short days ago, was that on that night we spent together, she and I created a child. _

_"And now comes the reason why I am telling all of you this. That child is our own Doctor Daniel Jackson, the man we have all come to respect as a valued member of the Stargate Program. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how stunned Daniel and I both were to discover this, but I wish to state for the record that I could not be more delighted. I have great admiration for Daniel's achievements and the kind of man he is, and the fact that he is my son has made that admiration grow into deep pride. _

_"I would ask that all of you accept this news in a manner that befits members of the United States Armed Forces and people who work for that great institution. I expect you to continue treating Doctor Jackson with the same respect that you always have. _

_"I do not anticipate this to change anything in the program in regards to the standing and position of any individual. Doctor Jackson will continue as a member of SG-1, as the head of the archeology and linguistics departments, and as one of our lead negotiators and diplomats in alien and off-world relations. He will not be given any preferential treatment beyond what his position in the Stargate Program entitles him to. _

_"My door is open to anyone who wishes to know more about this situation and how it all came about. Though there are private details that I, of course, am not willing to talk about, I will answer any reasonable questions you may have." _

Daniel read over the announcement a second time. He admired how well his father had worded the announcement, but still wondered how many would react with an attitude far short of what the general was asking of them.

A couple of hours passed, every moment of which Daniel expected someone to come to his office about the announcement in the memo. It should have been no surprise that the first one to show up was Robert Rothman.

"Daniel, I just heard the news," said Robert as he came into the office. "Hammond is your father?"

"Yep. Mind-blowing, isn't it."

"You're not kidding." The anthropologist took a seat. "So, tell me all about it. How did you guys find out?"

Daniel gave the man the details of the whole thing.

"Wow," Robert said. "And to think that you have been working on this base under his command for all this time without knowing that he was your father. So, what's all this going to mean? Hammond said that nothing was going to change here, but what about personally? Does he want to be your dad? I mean, you know, _really_ your dad?"

Daniel smiled. "Yes, he does. He wants me to be part of his family. I have two half-sisters and two nieces, and he wants them to meet me."

"Whoa. I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall when he has that conversation with them." Robert studied Daniel's face. "So, how do _you_ feel about all this?"

"Part of me is still in shock. Part of me wants to ask someone to pinch me and prove that it's not all a dream."

"Hey, if you need someone to pinch you. . . ." Robert grinned.

"Thanks, but I'll pass."

Robert grew serious. "Are you happy about it?"

Daniel smiled softly. "Yeah, I am."

"Then I'm happy, too."

Robert stayed a couple of minutes longer, then returned to his lab. A while later, Daniel went to make a fresh pot of coffee only to discover that he didn't have any more coffee in his office. The archeologist gave a sigh. If he wanted coffee, it looked like he was going to have to go to the cafeteria. Or maybe not. Doctor Lassiter usually had a pot brewed. Perhaps Daniel could get a cup from him.

Grabbing his mug, Daniel headed down the hall. He was nearing the entrance to one of the labs when he heard voices coming from within.

"Well, there's no way I'll get that promotion now," said a voice Daniel recognized as belonging to Dale Bayless, a member of the archeology department staff.

"Why do you say that?" asked the female voice of Colleen Moore.

"Doctor Jackson doesn't like me. My only hope of getting the promotion was if I went directly to General Hammond about it. But he's Doctor Jackson's father, so he sure as hell isn't going to do something contrary to what his son wants."

Daniel stood frozen in place. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Dale, Doctor Jackson is the head of the department. Promotions are entirely under his control. Even if he wasn't General Hammond's son, Hammond would not give you the promotion himself. He'd have told you it was up to Doctor Jackson."

"Yeah, well, we'll never know that for sure now, will we," Bayless responded bitterly.

Daniel turned around and went back to his office. He sat in his chair and stared at the floor. Though he had fully expected there to be some negative reactions to the news, he'd thought that they would come mainly from the military personnel. He hadn't expected that people on his own staff would react badly.

Daniel thought about Doctor Bayless. Contrary to what the man believed, Daniel didn't dislike him. What he disliked was the man's tendency to rush through a job, which often resulted in things getting missed or mistakes being made. He'd had to call Bayless on it more than once.

Bayless was right about one thing, though. He wasn't going to get the promotion. Daniel had already decided to give it to another member of his staff, one who was a better worker. And Colleen was right, too. Things like this were entirely up to him. General Hammond had no part in it and would not have given Bayless the promotion, even if he wasn't Daniel's father.

So, what was he going to do about this? Ignore it? How many other people on his staff had an issue with his relationship to the general? Perhaps what he needed to do was have a meeting with everyone.

Daniel composed a memo calling for a staff meeting at four o'clock and sent it out to everybody in the archeology and linguistics departments.

When noon came, Daniel thought about going to get something to eat, but the truth was that he was really nervous about venturing out. He could imagine what was going on in the rest of the base, and he'd really rather not deal with it.

By 1:30, a hungry Daniel was beginning to change his mind. He couldn't avoid this forever. Sooner or later, he was going to have to leave his office and this floor.

"Yep. Just like I figured," said the voice of Jack O'Neill. Daniel looked up to see him and Sam standing in the doorway.

"What's just like you figured?" the archeologist asked.

"The colonel guessed that you were hiding out in your office," Sam replied.

"Oh."

"Which is why we brought you this." Jack pulled a sandwich out from behind his back.

Daniel smiled. "Thanks. I was getting pretty hungry."

His teammates came forward, and Jack gave him the sandwich.

"So, um . . . what's it like out there?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, I'd definitely say that this has broken the record for the most talked about bit of gossip in SGC history," Jack answered.

Daniel sighed. "Great."

"It's not so bad, Daniel," Sam assured him. "A lot of people think it's pretty cool."

"And those who don't?"

"Are just being jackasses," Jack instantly responded. "There were bound to be some."

"Well, I don't care so much about me. I care more about how this might hurt my father's reputation and the respect people here have for him."

"Daniel, anyone here who lets this affect their respect for General Hammond doesn't deserve to be under his command," Jack declared firmly.

Sam's head nodded. "I agree. It's not like he was a married man who had an affair or some guy who slept with a married woman. They were both single, consenting adults who did what millions of other single men and women have done over the decades."

"I know," Daniel said, "but it always seems like when the woman gets pregnant, it makes the act more shameful in everyone's eyes. It shouldn't. Whether or not a child is conceived doesn't change the facts of the initial act, but that's always the way it's been, from way back in ancient history. The presence of the pregnancy and child means that what happened can't be ignored, swept under the rug. In some cultures, a woman who got pregnant out of wedlock was sent away somewhere, often to a convent, so that her shame would be hidden from the eyes of the public."

"Well, thankfully, it's not like that here anymore," Sam stated. "Most people accept someone being an unwed mother with barely a comment."

"Yes, but accepting that some girl you meet is an unwed mother is not the same thing as finding out that your commanding officer fathered a child out of wedlock during a one-night-stand."

"Daniel, don't worry," Jack said. "The general will be fine . . . and so will you. I happen to know that you've got a pretty thick skin when it comes to less than flattering things being said about you."

"Actually, that's not why I've been hiding out. They can say all the crude or insulting things about me that they want to, but if I heard someone say something about Mom, I'd want to punch them out, which would probably end up with me in the infirmary, if it was one of the military personnel."

"Well, I've got a solution for that. You sic Teal'c on 'em. That would guarantee that they'll never say another bad word about your mom for the rest of their lives."

"Thanks, Jack, but I really don't think that would be such a good idea."

After his teammates had left, Daniel ate his sandwich. He'd just finished when George came in.

"How are you doing, Son?" he asked.

"Okay. I've actually been hiding out here all day. I really didn't feel like dealing with all the stares and whispers today."

The general nodded. "I can understand that." He sat down. "I've had four people approach me about this, mostly because they were curious about the whole story and how we found out."

"I've had only one so far, and that was Robert Rothman."

"Good. I added that note about approaching me regarding this because I didn't want you bothered by a lot of people." George leaned forward. "Daniel, I made it clear that, at the time that Claire married Melburn Jackson, she did not know that I was the father of her baby, that there was an equal chance that Melburn was the father and that she believed he _was_ the father. I thought it was important for them to know that."

"Thank you."

George slapped his own knees. "Well, come on, Daniel. I hear that they have peach cobbler on the dessert menu today, and I'm in the mood for a piece. Of course, it won't compare to your Grandmother Hammond's peach cobbler. Now that's a woman who could bake."

A little reluctantly, Daniel left the office with his father. On the way to the commissary, he couldn't help but notice the stares, the furtive glances, and he knew it would be a lot worse if the general wasn't with him. As they ate their cobbler, there were a lot more stares. George seemed to be oblivious to it all.

"I called Kate and Veronica," the general said. "As you know, Kate lives here in Colorado Springs with her husband and two children. Veronica lives in Denver. I asked them both to come to my home tonight to discuss an important family matter. The children will not be there and neither will Gary, Kate's husband."

"Do you want me to be there?"

"No, I think it's best if we wait for you to meet them when they're ready. I will tell them about you, then I will leave it up to them to decide when they are ready to meet you." George smiled. "I suspect that Kate will be by far the most eager to meet you. When she was a little girl, she used to comment that she wished she had a big brother to protect her from the mean kids at school. When she was a teenager, one of her girlfriends had a very close relationship with her older brother, and Kate envied the girl for it. When she learns that she does have a big brother, I think she's going to be delighted."

"And Veronica?"

"Well, she's the baby of the family by quite a number of years, so you have to take that into consideration." George smiled. "I fear that I'm guilty of having spoiled her a little. Her acceptance of you might take a bit longer." Seeing the worry on Daniel's face, he gave his son an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, Daniel. Veronica will be fine."

* * *

When Daniel walked into the room where the staff meeting was being held, he felt the eyes of everyone fall upon him.

"Okay, by now, I'm sure all of you have heard the news about me and General Hammond," he said. "I decided to call this meeting to give everyone a chance to ask any questions they may have and express any concerns or . . ." he glanced at Bayless, "grievances." Daniel looked around. "So . . . any questions?"

"How did you find out that you were general Hammond's son?" a man in the linguistics department asked.

Daniel explained about the contents of his mother's diary and the things that occurred after he read it.

"Then you really had no idea that you were another man's son?" asked a woman who was on the archeology staff.

"No, none at all. I had no reason to believe that I wasn't Melburn Jackson's son."

A second woman spoke up. "Um . . . excuse me for saying this, Doctor Jackson, but didn't your mother think that Hammond had the right to know that he had a son?"

Daniel frowned. "Even if my mother could have found and gotten in touch with him, what would it have accomplished? She had a happy life with a man she loved, and my biological father was also in a happy relationship. The truth would have hurt a lot of people, and I'd probably have been one of them. I think my mom made the right choice to protect her family. If she hadn't died, there might have come a day once I was an adult when she would have told me the truth, but that's something I'll never know."

Daniel answered a couple of questions about how, where and why Claire and George met and ended up sleeping together. He answered them with as much information as he could without getting into too many personal details.

"So, how is this going to affect things around here?" asked one man.

"It shouldn't affect things at all," Daniel replied. "As General Hammond stated in his announcement, my position in the program isn't going to change. I'll still be the head of these departments and will also still be with SG-1. My duties and workload will not change one iota."

"You're not going to hire more staff to take some of your workload?"

"No. If I'd believed that we needed a bigger staff, I could have approached the general about it at any time."

"Yeah, but would he have said yes before he found out that you were his son?"

Daniel stared at Dale Bayless, the one who'd asked the question. He'd detected a note in the man's voice that he didn't like.

"Whether or not he'd have said yes is something I don't know. General Hammond has to take into consideration the program's budget, and any staff additions must be able to fit into that budget." Daniel's gaze hardened. "The fact that I'm General Hammond's son does not change that, nor would it change his opinion on whether or not a request should be approved. He is responsible for how well this base is run and seeing that it has what it needs for everyone to do their jobs efficiently. He would not put any personal feelings about me above that. Are we clear on that?"

Bayless didn't reply, frowning down at the floor instead.

No one else had any questions, so Daniel dismissed them. As the others left the room, he walked up to Bayless.

"I wish to speak to you in private, Dale," he said quietly. "Please come to my office." He then turned and left.

Bayless showed up several minutes later, looking a bit mutinous. Daniel studied him for a few seconds.

"I think you need to understand something," he said. "I don't dislike you."

The startled look on the man's face indicated that he realized Daniel had overheard the earlier conversation.

"The only problem I've had with you is that you try to get things done too quickly. Archeology is not a science for people who rush through things. Out of all the sciences, it's among the ones that needs the most patience."

"I'm just trying to be more productive," Bayless said with a frown, obviously not happy about the criticism.

"Being more productive isn't going to help if you get careless and make mistakes in the process. It's better to do one job well than to do ten sloppily. You need to learn to slow down and be more thorough. If you can do that consistently, then, eventually, you will get a promotion, but not until I think that you're ready for the responsibility that comes with a promotion." Daniel stared at him piercingly. "And Colleen was right. As the head of the archeology department, who does and does not get a promotion is completely up to me. So, going to General Hammond would have done you no good, even if it had been before he discovered that I'm his son."

Bayless glared at him. "So, I'm not getting the promotion."

Daniel shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I decided last week to give the position to Doctor Fuentes. I had intended to tell you and him before now, but this situation with my father got in the way."

The man glared at him for a couple of seconds longer, then, "Can I go now?"

Daniel sighed. "Yes, you can go."

Bayless strode angrily out of the room. Daniel had hoped that the man would understand and accept why he was not getting the promotion, but, apparently, he was too angry to do so. Hopefully, he would eventually cool down and see reason. Daniel had never had to fire anyone on his staff, and he really didn't want to have to do so now.

The archeologist tried to get back to work. He'd been at it for only fifteen minutes when there was a tap on the door frame. He looked up to see Colleen.

"Doctor Jackson? Um . . . I just wanted to tell you that Dale's attitude is not shared by the rest of us," she said. "We know that you're a fair man. We also know that you do five times more work than anyone else in the departments. When the rest of us are at home, you're often still here working. You could easily give part of your workload to us, but you choose to do it yourself. Frankly, some of us can't figure out how you manage to do all your work here, yet still go on missions with SG-1."

Daniel smiled slightly. "I have the advantage of having no life to speak of outside the SGC."

Colleen gazed at him. "But you've got family now."

Daniel's eyes went to the desktop. "Yes, I do."

The woman smiled. "So, maybe now you _will_ have a life outside the SGC."

Daniel nodded faintly, also smiling. "Maybe I will."

Colleen backed up a step. "Well, I just wanted to tell you that. I'll let you get back to work." She went to the door, pausing before stepping out into the hall. "Oh, and Doctor Jackson? I think this whole thing with you and General Hammond is wonderful. I'm glad you found out that he's your father."

The little smile still on his face, Daniel turned to his computer and got back to work. 


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Daniel was approaching the door of the locker room when Major Edward Hancock came out. The guy had a bruise on his jaw, which looked to be quite recent. The moment the man saw Daniel, he quickly looked away and hurried his pace, rapidly moving past the archeologist, gaze averted. Puzzled by the man's actions, Daniel watched him walk away down the corridor.

Daniel entered the locker room and saw Jack, who also looked away upon seeing him. The colonel opened his locker and began pulling out his civilian clothes.

"What's wrong with Major Hancock?" Daniel asked. "He acted pretty strange when he saw me. And where'd he get that bruise on his jaw?"

Jack started unbuttoning his BDU shirt, still turned away. "What makes you think I'd know?"

"Oh, maybe because you seem to be having the same problem looking at me."

Jack paused, then turned and looked straight at Daniel. "There. I'm looking at you."

Daniel stared at him narrowly. "Jack, what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on."

"I don't believe you." Daniel had a sudden thought. "Jack, did Major Hancock say something about me?"

"Not . . . exactly," Jack replied very reluctantly.

"But he did say something about this thing with me and the general, didn't he." Daniel's gaze narrowed. "Did you hit him?"

"No, I did not hit him."

"But somebody did, didn't they."

"There was an . . . altercation."

"Teal'c?"

"Carter."

Daniel's eyes widened. "Sam hit him?"

"It was on the mat, Daniel. Hancock was in the gym and made an . . . off-color remark to the guy he was sparring with."

"What kind of off-color remark?"

"You don't have to know that, Daniel. Carter was there and heard it. She expressed her displeasure at the remark and told him he should watch his mouth. He said something else that was offensive, so she challenged him to a hand-to-hand combat match. She didn't pull her punches . . . at all. Hancock's just lucky that she kept her blows above the belt. I might not have been so nice."

Daniel just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

"Is she okay?" he finally asked.

"Her hand's a bit sore, but it'll be fine."

"Did you see all that?"

"Not all of it, which is a good thing since, if I'd been there and heard firsthand what he said, a bruised jaw and an even more bruised ego would have been the least of his troubles. I just had a wee bit of a chat with him about improving his attitude."

"Which explains why he was afraid to even look at me. Thanks. I probably owe Sam a thank you, too, although I really wouldn't have wanted her to do what she did."

After changing into his civvies, Daniel went to see if Sam was still working in her lab. She was.

"How's your hand?" he asked.

She looked at him with a grimace. "Oh. You found out."

Daniel nodded. "Although I didn't find out exactly what he said to incur your wrath." He stepped closer. "Sam, I appreciate you defending me, or my parents, or whomever it was you were defending, but you really didn't have to do that, you know. I wouldn't have expected you to."

"I know. It just pissed me off. If he'd apologized and admitted that he shouldn't have said it, then everything would have been fine."

"But he didn't."

"No, instead, he made another comment."

Daniel smiled. "So, you beat him up."

"I didn't beat him up, Daniel. We had a combat workout, and I got in some good kicks and punches. The colonel put a stop to it when Hancock started getting really mad."

"Yes, and then Jack put the fear of God into him."

"He did?"

"By the way Hancock acted when he saw me, yes, I'd say so."

Sam smiled slightly. "I wish I could have seen that."

Daniel searched her eyes for a moment. "Thanks, Sam."

"Any time, Daniel."

* * *

It was eight o'clock on the dot when Kate arrived at her father's house.

"Ah, Katie, sweetheart," George greeted, giving her a kiss. "How are Gary and the girls?"

"They're all great, Dad. You need to come over for dinner one of these days. We don't get to see you nearly enough."

"Yes, the curse of being a general. My time is seldom my own, even when I'm off-duty."

They went into the living room.

"Dad, what is this all about? You said it was an important family matter."

"Let's wait for your sister to arrive."

Veronica got there ten minutes later.

"Sorry, I'm late," she said. "There was a mini crisis at the office. I had to grab a bite to eat on the way here." She gave her father a hug.

"Come. Let's all go sit down," George said.

Father and daughters took seats in the living room.

"Okay, so what's going on, Dad?" Veronica asked. Her expression grew worried. "You're not sick, are you?"

"No, honey, I'm fine. This is about something that happened long ago, before you were both born. When your mother and I were dating, we both knew that, with me being in the Air Force, it was likely that, sooner or later, I'd get transferred. We'd been going together for two years when the transfer came. Though we'd known the day might come, it was still upsetting to Margaret. She and I had talked about marriage, but Margaret didn't want to leave her father, who was not in good health. After I received the notice that I was going to be transferred, she told me that she just couldn't do it. She couldn't marry me and leave her father alone. She was ending our relationship. Angry and upset, I stormed out of her house."

"You never told us this before," Kate said.

"I know. Your mother and I saw no need to tell you. It was in the past. I was given a week of leave before the transfer, and I decided to go away somewhere. I went to Venice Beach, California, where an old buddy of mine lived. I spent a lot of time just staring at the ocean, trying to get over the pain of losing Margaret. One night, I was at a club and met a woman. Her name was Claire. She'd just broken up with her fiancé and was hurting as much as I was. We went to another club together and talked. I found myself opening up to her about Margaret, and she did the same about her ex-fiancé. We drew comfort from each other."

George gazed at his daughters. "That night, we made love. Perhaps it was something that shouldn't have happened, but we were two sad people who needed something to help make the pain go away. The next day, she and I said goodbye at the airport, and I flew away, never to see her again. When I returned home, I thought about the things I'd said to Claire about your mother, and I realized that I couldn't give Margaret up, not without a fight. The day before I was scheduled to leave for my new post, I went to see her. We shed more than one tear that night. I told her that I'd wait for her, that I'd give her however much time she needed. A month later, she got on a plane and came to me, saying that she didn't want to be without me. We became engaged that very day and were married eight months later."

"Oh, Dad," Kate said. "What a beautiful story." She smiled. "I'm glad you met Claire. If you hadn't, you and Mom might not have gotten back together."

"Yes, and we'd never have been born," Veronica added. "So, why are you telling us this now?" She gasped. "Dad, did you find Claire?"

"No, honey. Claire and her husband died in a tragic accident back in 1973. I'm telling you this now because, a few days ago, I discovered something." He took their hands in his. "I have learned that, on that night thirty-six years ago, Claire and I created a baby, a little boy."

Kate gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.

Veronica was staring at him, wide-eyed. "A baby?"

George smiled gently. "Yes. You have a brother, sweetheart."

"Oh my gosh!" Kate exclaimed. "Who is he? How did you find out?"

"His name is Daniel, and, in an extraordinary twist of fate, he has been working under my command for three years now."

Veronica was surprised all over again. "He works in the mountain? Then he's in the military, too?"

"No, he is a civilian. We have a large civilian staff working on the base."

"And you had no idea at all that he was your . . . your. . . ." Veronica found that she was having a tough time saying the word 'son'.

"No, and he didn't know either. You see, I never knew his mother's last name, and she got back together with her fiance just a couple of days after that night. When she learned that she was pregnant, she hoped that he was the father. It wasn't until sometime after Daniel was born that she came to the conclusion that he was my son. She never told her husband or her son the truth."

"Then how you did you find out?" Kate asked.

"Daniel recently came into possession of some of his maternal grandfather's belongings. Among them was his mother's diary. In it was the confession that he was the son of a man his mother spent only one night with. Even then, he didn't know it was me because the diary did not mention my name. Daniel decided that he wanted to find out who the man was and came to me for help. When I learned what he knew about the man, I realized that it was me. Out of necessity, we had a paternity test taken, and it confirmed that Daniel is my son."

Kate and Veronica sat in stunned silence for a long moment.

"This is so incredible," the elder of the girls finally said. Then she smiled. "I have a brother."

"_Half_-brother," her sister said pointedly.

Kate ignored her. She leaned forward eagerly. "What's he like? I want to meet him."

George smiled, seeing that he'd guessed right about his eldest daughter. "Daniel is a kind, brave, compassionate man who is also one of the most brilliant and intuitive people I have ever met. He's a cultural expert and an extremely gifted linguist, talents that are greatly valued in his work. He's also a skilled negotiator and diplomat, abilities that have led to several successful peace negotiations and trade agreements."

"My, he sounds too good to be true," muttered Veronica.

Not pleased by the tone of her voice, George frowned at her. "Veronica, I understand that this might be a little difficult for you to accept, but this man is your brother. Nothing is going to change that. He does not deserve hostility from any member of this family. I have already welcomed him into the family, and I would very much like for you, Kate and everyone else to do the same."

"Does he have any family of his own?" Kate asked.

"No. As I said before, Daniel lost his parents when he was only eight. He was put into foster care afterwards and stayed a ward of the state until shortly after he graduated high school at the age of fifteen. He's been estranged from his grandfather for years. The man now lives in a distant land and will likely never return."

"Oh, that's so sad. It's too bad you didn't know about him back when his parents were killed. He could have lived with us."

George gave her a gentle smile. "Yes, I wish that, too, honey. Now, Daniel was married, but he lost his wife recently. He's still hurting over that, so tread carefully."

"I will, Dad." Kate smiled brightly. "So, when do we get to meet him?"

"Whenever you want."

"Tonight?"

"I'd rather not tonight," said Veronica, a little frown on her face.

Kate glared at her. "Okay, then you can just go home. I can't believe you don't want to meet your own brother."

"Kate," George rebuked mildly. "Your sister's just having a harder time accepting this. It's a lot to take in." He looked at his two daughters. "Perhaps it would be better for Daniel to meet you one at a time. I know that he's very nervous and worried about meeting you and being accepted into the family. You have to understand how overwhelming this has been for him. He's had no family to speak of for most of his life and has been taking care of himself since he was only fifteen. Now, suddenly, he has a father, two sisters, two nieces, and a great crowd of other relatives that I haven't even talked to him about."

"Yes, I can imagine that would be overwhelming," Kate said. "I'd probably be a basket case."

George smiled at her fondly. He turned to his youngest child. "So, if you'd like to go home, now, Vee, that would be all right. Daniel will understand. When you feel ready to meet him, just tell me."

Veronica hesitated, then stood up. She got her coat and went to the front door, her father going with her out onto the porch.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," she said, staring at the floor. "I'm just not ready to. . . ."

"I understand, sweetheart. You need to move at your own pace. I truly hope, though, that you can give Daniel a chance. If you do, I think that you'll come to love him a great deal. He is a good man."

Veronica looked at her father. "Do _you_ love him?"

"Before I learned who Daniel really is, I thought of him as a very good friend, and I cared about him a great deal. Not very long ago, he was missing for a while, and I worried deeply about what had happened to him. Now that I know that he is my son . . . yes, Vee, I do love him, and it would mean a lot to me for you to accept and love him, too."

"I'll . . . I'll try, Dad. I can't promise any more than that."

George cupped her cheek in his hand. "I know." He placed a kiss on her forehead. "Have a safe trip home."

Once Veronica was safely in her car and away, George went to the phone.

Ten minutes later, a very nervous Daniel pulled up in front of his father's house. He'd been told that he would only be meeting Kate tonight, but he was still tense. What was he going to say to her? How should he act?

Daniel rubbed his upset stomach. _'I should have taken some Pepto-Bismol before I came here.'_ A second later, another thought came. _'A Valium might have helped, too.' _

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Daniel got out of his car and went to the front door. His knock was answered just a few seconds later by George.

"Daniel." He studied the expression on his son's face. "Relax, Son," he said in a lower voice. "Katie won't bite. I promise."

Daniel followed his father inside. Standing in the living room was a slender woman with blue eyes and light auburn hair.

"Daniel, this is your oldest sister, Kate."

"Hello," the archeologist said.

Kate smiled brightly. "Hi. I am so happy to meet you."

"You are? I-I mean, thank you."

Kate sat on the couch and patted the cushion beside her. "Come on. I want to know all about you. Dad told us some things, but I know it was just the tip of the iceberg."

With a nervous glance at George, Daniel sat on the sofa.

"So, Dad said that you're a civilian who works at the base, that you're a linguist and a negotiator slash diplomat."

"Um . . . well, I didn't actually start out as a negotiator or diplomat. That sort of happened along the way. I'm actually an archeologist and anthropologist, along with a linguist."

"Do you have doctorates in all three?"

Daniel nodded.

"Well, Dad did say that you were brilliant. I bet you can speak lots of languages, too. So, how many? Nine? Ten?"

"Um . . . twenty-three, actually," Daniel replied self-consciously, sticking only to the Earth languages he could speak.

Kate blinked, her mouth falling open. "Twen . . . twenty-three?" She turned to her father. "Dad, you said my brother was brilliant, not that he was a super-genius."

Daniel blushed and ducked his head. Kate noticed and grinned. How adorable! If he wasn't her brother and she wasn't married, she'd be going after him in a flash. He probably had girls all lined up, just waiting for him to get over losing his wife. Hmm. She'd have to protect him from the predatory types. As a civilian working for the government, he probably got paid quite a bit, although you wouldn't know it by his clothes. She'd have to teach him how to be a sharper dresser.

Kate probed Daniel for more details about himself and his life, as tenacious as a bulldog and as sly as a fox when it came to digging out interesting little details. George watched the 'interrogation' delightedly, having to hold back a chuckle more than once. Poor Daniel didn't stand a chance against the hurricane force of Kate Louise MacNamara when she was determined to know something.

"What about you?" Daniel quickly asked at one point when Kate was taking a breath between questions. "What do you do?"

"Oh, I'm not half as interesting as you. I'm a legal secretary at a big law firm here in town. I only started doing that again after Kayla began going to school. Before then, I was just a wife and mommy."

"Being a mom is important," Daniel said quietly. "I admire any woman who has a successful career and can rise above the limitations society places upon them, but I think that one of the most rewarding, challenging and admirable jobs any woman can have is to be a mother."

Utterly delighted by the remark, Kate grinned. "Oh, my. I can see right now that I'm going to be beating them off you with a stick."

Daniel frowned in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"The women, Daniel. If some woman out looking for a husband and kids heard you say something like that, they'd be going after you at supersonic speed."

Daniel blushed all the way down his neck, his gaze immediately dropping.

"That, um . . . has never been a problem in the past," he mumbled.

"It hasn't?"

Daniel shrugged. "I've never really been the . . . social type. In college, when the other kids were at parties, I was studying."

"Ah. Well, regardless, I think you're darling, Big Brother."

This time, George couldn't stop the chuckle.

"Kate, dear, perhaps you should give poor Daniel a break before you've embarrassed him so much that he runs away."

The half-siblings turned and looked at him at the same time, and George quite suddenly realized something.

"My word. I can't believe I didn't see it before."

"What?" Kate asked.

"The resemblance. Now that I'm really looking, I can see it so clearly."

Daniel and Kate stared at each other, looking for the resemblance. Kate then grabbed Daniel's hand.

"Come here," she said and fairly dragged him to the bathroom mirror, George following. Brother and sister stared at their reflection.

"Wow, you're right," Kate said after a few seconds.

"I'd never guess that you're only half-siblings," George remarked.

Kate smiled. "Well, I guess the Hammond genes are pretty potent."

George chuckled again. "I guess they are, sweetheart, although Daniel bears no resemblance at all to me." He gazed at his son. "But I can see his mother in him."

Daniel looked at his watch. "I should get going. I need to get to work early tomorrow."

They all went back out into the living room, where Daniel was surprised by a hug from Kate.

"It was really nice to meet you, Daniel," she said. "I'm so glad that you've come into our family."

"I-I . . . thank you," the archeologist stammered softly. He gave Kate a shy, beautiful smile that the woman was certain had melted more than one female heart.

Father and daughter watched Daniel walk to his car, then get in and drive away. George shut the door and looked at Kate.

"Well?"

"I think he's wonderful, Dad, although I'd like to know why you didn't tell me that my brother is a hunk. He's gorgeous!"

The general laughed outright. "That isn't exactly the kind of thing a father says about his son, honey."

"No, I suppose not. I bet all the women at work have noticed."

"That I wouldn't know."

"And some of the men, too," Kate added with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Kate," George said in a mildly scolding tone.

"Yes, I know, I know. Don't ask, don't tell."

George shook his head with an amused smile. His oldest daughter had always been one to say exactly what was on her mind, regardless of how improper it might be. Though Daniel was usually somewhat more tactful, he did have the same courage when it came to telling people what he thought when he believed that they were taking wrong course of action.

"Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't worry about Veronica. Once she meets Daniel, there's no way that she's not going to adore him."

* * *

The next morning at work, Daniel learned that the story about him and his parents had two more items added to it. The first, not surprisingly, was the altercation between Sam and Major Hancock. Daniel learned what it was that Hancock had said that ticked Sam off, and he completely understood why she'd gotten mad, since, now, _he_ was mad, too. The man had commented that he wondered if Daniel's mother had been a good lay. When Sam called him on the disrespectful remark, he said something that was sexually derogatory toward women. Daniel had to wonder what his father would do about this. He didn't think that the general would let it pass without comment.

The second thing wasn't really an additional, but, rather, an . . . expansion. Apparently, the people who knew more details about how Claire and George met had passed on what they knew to others. Now, quite a few of the female personnel were talking about the story of the two broken-hearted people who found each other and shared one night of love and how amazing it was that, so many years later, the man had found the son who was conceived on that night.

Virtually every woman Daniel saw throughout the morning smiled at him sweetly. As he ate his lunch, he tried to ignore it, but when Sam sat down across from him with her tray, she smiled at him in exactly the same way.

"Oh, God. Not you, too," he groaned.

"Not 'me too' what?"

"Every woman I've seen today has smiled at me like you just did, like . . . like they wanted to pat my cheek and say, 'Aw, it's just so wonderful!'"

Sam choked back a laugh. "Sorry. I promise I don't want to pat your cheek, Daniel."

"Thank God."

The major smiled. "Although you do have to admit that the story making the rounds now is quite sweet and romantic."

Daniel glared at her. "You're not helping, Sam."

The astrophysicist suppressed another smile and took a bite of her lunch.

"I should imagine that there aren't any women on base who are smiling sweetly at Major Hancock," Daniel said after eating some more of his own lunch.

"_That's_ for sure." Sam looked at him. "I assume you've heard what he said."

Daniel frowned down at his food. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry you had to hear that, Daniel. I always thought it was pretty disrespectful for a guy to make that kind of remark, but to say it about someone's mother was way over the line. I mean, how would he like it if someone said that about _his_ mother? And then what he said to me. . . ." Sam shook her head. "It took a lot for me not to punch him in the nose right then and there."

"I can imagine so."

"But let's not talk about that. I understand that you met one of your sisters yesterday. How was it?"

"She's ruthless."

Sam stared at him in surprise. "She is?"

"She wouldn't leave me alone, insisting on knowing every little detail about me. If most of what I did here wasn't classified, she'd know my entire life story now. I have doubts that even Teal'c would be able to stand up against her interrogation methods."

"Ah, you must have met Katie," said a voice behind Daniel. He turned to see Jack.

"You know her?"

Jack sat down. "Oh, yes. I've met most of the family."

"And did Kate grill you mercilessly, too?"

"Yes, but I had the advantage of my Special Ops and Black Ops training against interrogation to help me. I'd never have guessed that I'd need it when confronting the one-hundred-and-ten-pound daughter of General Hammond."

"Lucky you," Daniel muttered.

"Kate might be a bulldog, but she's also a sweetheart. And she's a bit of an activist as well, especially for human rights. You two will get along marvelously."

"Now, you see, I learned almost nothing about her last night. I managed to get in one question. One!"

Jack smiled. "You'll have another chance. Did you meet Vee, too?"

"Vee?"

"Veronica's nickname."

"Oh. No, she wasn't there. I know she must have been earlier because they were both told about me, but she apparently left before I arrived." Daniel stared at his plate. "I don't think she's all that eager to meet me."

"Why do you say that?" Sam asked.

"Because of some things Dad said about her. I'm not so sure she'll be able to accept me into the family, at least not easily."

"Daniel," Jack said. "Veronica is a twenty-three-year-old who still has a bit of growing up to do. It wouldn't surprise me if she was a little jealous of you and the attention General Hammond is going to give to you, especially since you are the son she probably knows he's always wanted. But don't let it get to you. I'm sure she'll come around. It'll just take more time." 


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Major Edward Hancock entered the office of the base commander and stood at attention. The fact that he was not told to stand at ease confirmed that he was in a lot of trouble.

"Major Hancock, it has come to my attention that you have made some remarks that are disrespectful to women and, specifically, to the mother of my son."

"May I speak freely, sir?"

"Yes, you may."

"My comment was just guy talk, sir, things guys say all the time. If Major Carter hadn't gone off about it, it would have been no big deal."

George frowned. "Major, I don't care if you consider it to be guy talk. Showing any disrespect toward women while you are on this base will not be tolerated. Is that understood?"

Hancock stiffened his spine. "Yes, sir."

"Regarding your first remark, not only was it disrespectful to Doctor Jackson's mother, it also showed disrespect toward me."

"No, sir!" Hancock objected. "My remark was not in any way meant to disrespect you, General."

"Nevertheless, that's what it did. I do not appreciate such a comment being made about a private moment in my past."

"I'm sorry, sir."

The general's features hardened even more. "Now, in regards to your second comment, the one you made directly to Major Carter—"

The ringing of the phone interrupted him. He answered the call, talking for a few seconds with the person, then put the call on hold. He focused his attention back on Hancock.

"I need to take this call, so I'll be brief, Major. I am appalled that a man under my command would show such disrespect toward women. Such an attitude is a disgrace and unbecoming a member of the United States Armed Forces. I would suggest that you learn to show greater respect toward women in the future. If you cannot do so, then I will gladly accept your resignation from military service. Do I make myself clear?"

Hancock's back stiffened even more. "Yes, sir!" he snapped out.

"Dismissed."

As Hancock left the office and walked down the hall, every woman he passed glared at him, some with temperatures approaching that of an iceberg, others as if they'd like to add a few more bruises to the one Major Carter gave him.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to request a transfer.

* * *

By the end of the week, things on base had pretty much settled down, at least in regards to the whole story about Daniel and his parentage. From what the archeologist had heard, Major Hancock was still in boiling hot water with the female personnel. Word around base was that he was going to transfer out. Whether or not that was true was something Daniel didn't know, although if _he_ was Hancock, he would definitely transfer.

It was just after lunch on Friday afternoon when George came into Daniel's office, giving him the warm, gentle smile that he'd come to know very well since the day he learned that he was the man's son.

"How are things going today?" the general asked.

"Pretty good."

The general took a seat. "I'd like you to come to the house tomorrow evening for a little family gathering."

Daniel was instantly nervous. "Oh. Um . . . O-okay."

"It seems that Kate has been talking up a storm about you, and Gary and the kids all want to meet you."

"And Veronica?"

"She'll be there as well, though she'll be coming later in the evening."

Daniel nodded. "Do you want me to bring anything?"

"No, Daniel. Just bring yourself. Kate will be doing the cooking. Thankfully, she inherited some of her grandmother's skill in the kitchen."

"What about your wife? Couldn't she cook?"

George smiled fondly in remembrance. "I loved my wife dearly, but cooking was not one of her strengths. She never gave me food poisoning, but indigestion was not uncommon."

Daniel smiled. "On Abydos, learning how to cook is a must for any woman who wants a husband since married men do not cook . . . although that didn't stop Sha're from getting me to grind the flour." His smile softened. "I think she took advantage of the fact that I was from a society in which husbands do things that are considered woman's work to the Abydonians."

George chuckled. "It sounds like she was a smart woman."

Daniel nodded, his expression softening into remembrance with a touch of deep sadness. "Yes, she was."

Understanding what Daniel was feeling, George briefly touched his shoulder.

"Well, dinner starts at 6:30," he said in a bright tone, "so don't be late."

"I won't."

Late that afternoon, Daniel returned to his office to find an envelope on his desk. He opened it to discover that it contained the resignation of Dale Bayless. Sighing, Daniel read over the words. The man had been pretty blunt when citing his reasons for leaving, basically saying that he didn't see eye-to-eye with "management", meaning Daniel, and that he believed his chances for advancement to be slim.

Daniel considered going to talk with Bayless, but decided that there probably wouldn't be any point to it. Obviously, the man was right. He and Daniel were never going to see eye-to-eye about how things should be done, and, apparently, Bayless was unwilling to adapt and change the way he did things.

Unhappy that it had to end like this, Daniel began filling out the necessary paperwork to process the man's resignation.

* * *

It was 6:29 Saturday night when Daniel pulled up in front of the general's house. Feeling like he really should bring something, he'd gotten a bottle of wine and a six-pack of beer.

This time, it wasn't his father who answered the door, but a fair-haired little girl of around seven.

"Are you my uncle Daniel?" she asked bluntly.

Daniel smiled. "Yes, I am. You must be Kayla."

George appeared with a smile. "Ah, I should have known she'd beat me to the door. She's opened it five time in the last fifteen minutes, looking to see if you were here yet."

As Daniel came into the house, a dark-haired man around his age came up to them.

"Hello, I'm Gary, Kate's husband."

Daniel shook his hand. "Hello."

"George has probably already told you that we've heard quite a bit about you from Kate." Gary smiled. "I think the word 'genius' was used more than once."

Daniel's head ducked in embarrassment. "She probably exaggerated."

"Not unless you don't have the three PhD's and can't speak the twenty-three languages she told us about."

"Oh. Um . . . yeah, that part's true."

"What's a genius?" Kayla asked.

"Someone who is very, very smart," her father replied.

George called out, "Tessa, come say hello to your uncle Daniel."

A few seconds later, a girl of around nine appeared from the kitchen and came up to stand close to her grandfather.

"Hi," she said a little shyly.

Daniel smiled brightly. "Hello, Tessa. It's nice to meet you. That's a pretty dress you're wearing."

Tessa ducked her head shyly. "Thank you."

"Here. Let me take those," Gary said, gesturing at the beer and wine.

Daniel handed them to him, and they all went into the living room, Gary making a brief trip to the kitchen first to put away the beverages. Daniel sat on the couch, Kayla plopping right down beside him.

"You're really, really smart?"she asked, gazing up at the archeologist innocently.

"Oh, I'm not nearly as smart as a lot of people. In fact, there's a woman I work with named Samantha who's a lot smarter than me."

George smiled. "I doubt that Major Carter would agree with that statement, Daniel. Your knowledge and expertise just lie along different paths."

Just then, Kate came out into the dining room, carrying a casserole dish. "Dinner's ready," she announced. She put the dish on the table, which was already set. As everyone came into the dining room, she hugged Daniel, then grabbed his hand.

"Come help me get the rest of the food," she said.

Not really having a choice, he let her pull him into the kitchen. She loaded his arms with a basket of rolls and a bowl of mixed vegetables, then she grabbed a plate of yams and baked potatoes.

The dinner was anything but a silent affair, everyone chatting animatedly as they ate. Not surprisingly, it was Kate who pulled Daniel into the conversation.

"So, Daniel. When's the last time you had a real home-cooked meal?" she asked.

"Um, not counting the ones I've cooked and the ones Jack has tried to cook? A long time."

"Jack?"

"Jack O'Neill. He's a friend of mine in the mountain. I believe you know him."

"I like Jack!" Kayla piped up.

"Yeah, he's cool," said Tessa.

"So, you and Jack are friends?" Kate said. "That's surprising. You and he aren't anything alike."

Daniel smiled slightly. "Jack would be the first one to agree with you on that. Our friendship is rather . . . unusual, sometimes more of a love/hate relationship. We butt heads a lot."

"That doesn't surprise me a bit."

It didn't take too terribly long for Daniel to get into the spirit of the dinner. He just wished that he had more of an appetite and that the stomachache he'd had since last night would go away. Regardless, it felt good to be a part of something like this, to feel like a member of a loving family. How long had it been since he'd done something like this? There had been the family dinners on Abydos, all of them sitting on the floor in a circle around the platters of food, but for memories of a dinner similar to this one, he had to go back to sometime while his parents were still alive, perhaps the Christmas before Melburn's mother died, when they all went to her house to spend the holidays. Even though he was only six at the time, Daniel still recalled all the fun they had that Christmas and the way his grandmother doted on him. That Christmas, he met his uncle, Melburn's brother, for the first time in his memory. It also turned out to be the last time, the man dying just a couple of months later in a car accident.

"Hey, you okay?" Kate asked, giving him a nudge. He realized that he hadn't spoken in a while.

"Oh, um, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About what?"

Daniel looked at her. "Is there anything that you consider to be private?"

Kate grinned. "Nope. So, what were you thinking?"

Daniel hesitated. He really didn't want to say, but he knew his sister wouldn't leave him alone until he did.

"I was just thinking that I haven't really been part of a family dinner like this one since . . . since my parents died," he admitted in a low voice. He glanced at Kate and saw her looking at him sadly.

"Your foster parents never did things like this?"

"Well, there were family dinners, of course, but I never really felt like I was a part of any of the foster families I was in. I wasn't with any of them long enough to feel a connection to them, so at those dinners, I always felt a little like an outsider."

"What's a foster family?" Kayla asked rather loudly. All the other conversations came to a halt.

"Um, that's a family that takes in a child who either doesn't have any parents or can't be with their parents for some reason," Daniel replied.

"How come you were in foster families?"

"Because . . . because my parents died when I was just a little older than you."

"But I thought Grandpa George is your daddy. Mommy said he is."

Daniel met his father's eyes.

"I'll explain this, Daniel," the man said. He turned back to Kayla. "Honey, Daniel's mother was a lady I met before I married your Grandma Margaret. We only knew each other for a little while, and I never saw her again after we said goodbye. When Daniel was born, I didn't know about him. He was raised by his mom and the man she married. I didn't find out that Daniel is my son until a little over a week ago."

"Oh. If you had known he was your son before, would he still have stayed with the foster families?"

"No, Kayla. I'd have brought him home, and my wife and I would have raised him with your mom and Aunt Vee."

"Then we wouldn't have just met him today."

George smiled. "That's right, sweetheart."

Satisfied with the explanation, the girl went back to eating.

The meal was finished a while later. George put on a video for the kids in the family room so that the adults could talk. The bottle of wine was opened and served.

"So, how did you meet Jack?" Kate asked. "When you came to work under Dad's command?"

"Oh, um, no, it was before then. I was hired by the military to do a special translation job. Jack was in charge of overseeing the project."

Kate studied him. "There's more to it than that, I'm betting."

"I can't talk about most of it because it's classified. We ended up going to a very remote part of Egypt, and there was . . . trouble. Most of Jack's men were killed, and I. . . . Well, it was bad for me for a while. But we had help from the natives, and we managed to take care of the ones who were causing the problem." Daniel smiled. "That's where I met my wife."

"She was Egyptian?" Gary asked.

Daniel nodded. "Her name was Sha're."

"Ah, so I finally hear about where you met your wife," Kate said. "You kept insisting that it was all classified."

"Well, the details on how and where I met her _are_ classified, as is some of the stuff that happened during the year I stayed with her and her people."

"You stayed there for a year?"

"Over a year, actually." Daniel smiled again. "It was one of the best times of my life."

"What happened?" Kate asked quietly, sensing that there was a tragedy in this story.

Daniel didn't reply, and George stepped in.

"Kate, honey, it's something Daniel can't really talk about. I can only say that there was a terrible event that resulted in him coming back here and going to work in Cheyenne Mountain."

Kate looked at Daniel, whose head was down, shoulders hunched slightly forward. It wasn't tough to guess that, whatever happened, it had been really bad.

"All right," she said, knowing when not to push. She'd learned years ago that, when her father said something was classified, no amount of pushing would get her answers. She just had to accept that her brother was a part of that same world of secrecy.

"So, it sounds like that incident back when you met your wife was pretty terrifying," Gary said. "I can't imagine being in that kind of situation."

Daniel shrugged. "Oh, you get used to it eventually."

"So, you're saying that you've been in situations like that a lot? I didn't realize that you'd be in dangerous situations that often."

"Um . . . I travel out of the country a lot, often into volatile, war-torn areas. Jack's usually there with me, often keeping the bad guys away while I try to make friends and allies. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't."

Kate stared at him, frowning. "Well, now, I'm going to be worrying about you."

George reached over and patted her hand. "Daniel is underplaying his own impressive survival skills, honey. He's managed to get himself out of situations that would have proven fatal to many people."

Daniel was smiling slightly, eyes lowered. "Jack once tagged me with the name Lazarus because I've been clinically dead more than once and presumed dead more than once, not to mention missing a few times and injured more often than I care to count, but I still keep popping up to go out and do it again." He paused. "Well, not always _popping_ up exactly."

The complete silence that followed made him look up. Kate and Gary were both gaping at him.

"Um . . . I . . . I guess I shouldn't have said that," he murmured in embarrassment.

"Damn," Gary said. "I didn't realize that diplomatic work could be so dangerous."

"Well, I also spend a lot of time on base doing translations and other things that many people would find pretty boring. But if you ever see me looking a little worse for wear, it probably means that I was off somewhere out of the country again, and things didn't go quite as uneventfully as we'd hoped."

Kate looked at her father. "Dad, how are you going to send Daniel off on these missions knowing that he might not come back alive?"

George's eyes went to his son. "The same way that other fathers do the same. Yes, I know that every time Daniel goes on one of those missions, there is the chance that he won't come back, but I also know that what he is doing out there is important, often vital to the security of both this country and others. Daniel made the decision to do this, and I respect and admire that choice. Being a civilian, it was not one he had to make. He and I have both made the choice to do what we can to protect all of us."

Kate looked at Daniel, smiling. "So, my brother is a real hero."

"Yes, he is," George agreed.

A pink-cheeked Daniel sat staring at his glass of wine.

"Oh, my!" Kate exclaimed. "You're the one who was lost, aren't you!"

Daniel looked at her. "What?"

"Kayla had a school play, and she called Dad to ask him to come, but he said that he couldn't because a very close friend of his was lost and needed help. But he showed up at the play anyway, saying that the person had been found. It was you, wasn't it."

Daniel met his father's eyes, remembering the telephone conversation he'd witnessed while out of phase and the words about him that had touched him so deeply.

"Yes, it was me," he admitted.

"So, what happened? Where were you?"

"Ummm. . . ."

"Let me guess. Classified?"

"Sorry."

"You know, there are times when I'm tempted to enlist in the Air Force just so that I can be told all these secret things."

It was obvious that Kate was joking, so Daniel didn't bother telling her that, even if she did enlist, she still wouldn't be told all the secrets.

Deciding that the subject needed to be changed, he asked, "When is Veronica supposed to arrive?"

George looked at the clock. "Actually, I was expecting her to be here by now."

"She probably got stuck doing something at the office again," Kate said.

"It's Saturday," Daniel remarked. "Where does she work?"

"She's an interior decorator. She's really quite good, actually. She went to work for a company in Denver as an assistant shortly after getting out of college, and she's already been promoted to the position of one of their decorators and design consultants."

"Some of the little extra touches here are thanks to Vee," George said proudly.

Kate smiled. "Yes, if you don't want her to start giving you tons of advice on your apartment, you might want to keep her out of there. She'd have redecorated our entire house, if we'd let her."

"I'll keep that in mind," Daniel responded.

At that moment, a young woman with long brown hair and light blue-grey eyes came through the front door.

"Hi, everyone," she said. "Sorry I'm late again. It's not my fault this time. I had to get gas, and there was a mile-long line." Her eyes landed on Daniel and stayed there, examining him critically.

He got to his feet, feeling nervous again. "Um, hi. I'm Daniel."

Veronica stepped forward and held out her hand. "Veronica."

"For Pete's sake, Vee," Kate said in exasperation. "He's your brother, and you want him to shake your hand?"

Shooting her a glare, Vee dropped her hand.

Daniel, feeling extremely uncomfortable, said, "I, um . . . I hear that you're an interior decorator."

"Yes."

"It must take a good eye and artistic talent to do that."

Veronica relaxed a bit, always willing to chat about her job. "Well, that all depends. Some of the interior design work I've seen looks like it was done by a troop of color-blind chimpanzees."

Daniel smiled. "Do you lean toward traditional designs or modern?"

Surprised, Vee stared at him. "Do you know something about interior decorating?"

"No, not a thing, but I have seen rooms and houses decorated in everything from Old Kingdom Egyptian to futuristic designs." He smiled. "I like old better."

Taking off her coat, Veronica sat in a chair, Daniel taking a seat to her right.

"Actually, I like both old and new," the woman said. "I love the Victorian look and recently did an old B&B from top to bottom in a traditional Victorian motif. It looked fantastic."

As Veronica chatted away, Daniel occasionally asking probing and intelligent questions, his attention focused solely upon his youngest half-sister, Kate just watched in admiration. After a while, she leaned toward her father.

"I think I can see why Daniel is so good at diplomacy," she whispered.

George smiled. "He's even more amazing when he's making friends with the enemy."

Twenty minute later, Veronica had decided that maybe Daniel was an okay guy. He was friendly, intelligent and seemed to honestly be interested in her as a person. And she hadn't gotten the sense that he was stuck-up. She couldn't stand guys who were conceited, and if everything Dad and her sister said about Daniel was true, he had good reason to be proud of his own achievements. Actually, thinking about it, he hadn't really talked about himself at all.

"So, you work with Dad in Cheyenne Mountain?" Veronica asked, deciding it was time to learn more about him.

"Uh huh."

"Claire told me that you have three PhD's. I can't even imagine putting in that kind of commitment and devoting that many years to school. How many years of college are we talking?"

Daniel shrugged. "It wasn't really that many. I started college when I was sixteen and got my final doctorate at twenty-three."

"How the heck did you manage that?"

"Lots of hard work and long hours of studying. I had the advantage that, while the other kids were off with family and friends during spring break or the holidays, I could make use of the time to study. I also took summer courses."

"You mean to say that you didn't go home at all?"

"I, um . . . didn't really have a home to go to. I became an emancipated adult at fifteen so that I could get out of the foster care system. For the few months between then and when I went off to college, I stayed in a room above somebody's garage and took a temporary job to cover living expenses and the bus fare to California. Fortunately, I had a full scholarship for college, and a student loan took care of paying for the things the scholarship didn't."

"Okay, that is just really sad," Veronica said.

Daniel gave a shrug. "I didn't mind, not really."

Veronica's response was interrupted by her cell phone. She answered the call. As she talked to the person, Daniel watched her expression change to horror and grief.

"Oh my God. When?" There was a pause as the other person answered. "Where is she? Which hospital?" Veronica began crying. "I'll be right there." She disconnected the call.

"Vee, what it is?" George asked in concern.

"M-my friend Amy was in a car accident a few hours ago. S-she's in the ICU at Memorial Central here in The Springs. It's really bad, Daddy. I-I-I need to go there. I need to be there. Her mom and dad are both dead, and she has no other family."

George got to his feet. "I'll drive you. You're too upset to drive yourself."

Kate also got up. "I'll go, too." She turned to her husband. "Gary, can you take the kids home?"

"Of course." He stood.

As Gary went to get the kids and the others put on their coats, Daniel didn't know what to do. He wanted to be there for his sister, but he didn't know if he'd be welcome.

"I'm sorry the evening got cut short, Daniel," George said.

"No, it's okay. I, um . . . I'd like to be there, too, but I don't, uh . . . want to intrude."

"Daniel, you are a part of this family now. You would not be intruding. Would you like me to ask Vee if it's okay for you to come?"

Upon getting a nod from Daniel, George gently asked his daughter if she'd mind having Daniel along. She gave a distracted shake of her head.

A short while later, they were at the hospital. As Daniel, Kate and George sat in one of the waiting rooms, Veronica was taken to her friend.

It was two hours later that Veronica came back, tears pouring down her face. She threw herself into her father's arms.

"She dead, Daddy. Amy's dead," she sobbed.

"Oh, sweetheart. I'm so sorry."

Kate came forward and wrapped her arms around her sister.

Daniel watched as father and sister comforted the grieving woman, his heart aching for her. He understood her pain, was all too familiar with it.

It was quite a while before Veronica's sobbing quieted. George asked her gently if she wanted to leave, and she nodded her head. They all silently left the hospital.

"I'm so sorry, Veronica," Daniel said once they were outside. "I understand how you must feel."

The woman suddenly rounded on him. "How could you know how I feel?" she yelled. "I barely know you! How could you possibly know the way I feel, how it feels to watch someone you love die in front of you?"

Intense pain speared through Daniel. He took a step back.

"E-excuse me," he stammered, then turned and hurried away.

"Veronica," George said. "I know you're upset, but there was no good reason for you to say something like that to Daniel."

The woman looked at him. "How could he say that he understands? He couldn't possibly understand."

George stared at her intently. "He does understand, Veronica. He understands all too well. His parents were killed right before his eyes, and only last year, he witnessed the death of his wife."

Veronica's hands flew to her mouth, eyes wide in horror and shame.

"Oh my God. Daddy, I didn't know. I'm so sorry."

"I'm not the one who needs your apology."

Veronica nodded. Wiping her face, she went to look for her half-brother. She found him standing at the edge of the parking lot, head down, arms wrapped around himself in a self-hug. As she hesitantly approached him, he became aware of her presence and turned his face away, wiping away what she knew were tears.

"Daniel, I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have said what I did."

"It's . . . it's okay," he said in a low voice, not looking at her. "You were upset. I understand."

"No, it's not okay." Veronica paused. "Dad told me about what you saw, the stuff about your parents and . . . and your wife."

Daniel's shoulders hunched a little more, his head ducking lower.

"I'm so sorry, Daniel. I know how awful that must have been, how much it must have hurt. You . . . you loved your wife a lot, didn't you."

"Yes," Daniel whispered unsteadily. "I loved her very much."

Slowly, hesitantly, Veronica came forward and wrapped her arms around her brother. Pausing only a moment, Daniel returned the hug. He felt his little sister's tears wetting his neck and pulled her a bit tighter against him, shedding a couple more tears of his own.

That's how George and Kate found them a moment later. They came up and pulled the two into their embrace, a family sharing love and comfort.

The drive back was quiet and subdued. They dropped Kate off on the way to George's house.

The woman gave her sister a long hug. "You give me a call tomorrow, okay?" she said. "I can come over, and we can talk, or just sit, or whatever you want. All right?"

Veronica nodded.

"Do you want me to come over now? Gary won't mind."

"No, I'm okay," Veronica replied. "I want to be alone for a while. And, um . . ." her voice trembled, "I need to make some calls to . . . to some of Amy's friends."

Kate hugged her again. "Okay. But you call any time you need to talk, any time at all."

At George's place, he said the same thing, telling Veronica that if she felt like talking any time during the night she was not to hesitate to call him.

Daniel accompanied his sister to her car.

"I want to say again that I'm sorry," she said.

Daniel shook his head. "You don't have to. I really did understand. We say a lot of things when we're upset that we don't really mean."

Veronica studied his face. "You really are a sweet guy, aren't you."

Daniel's head ducked, eyes turning away. He was surprised when she leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.

"You know what?" she said. "I think I'm going to like having you as a brother."

Surprised blue eyes met sincere blue-grey ones.

"Maybe we could get together one of these weekends," Veronica said. "Do you ever get over to Denver?"

"Sometimes. I'd like that."

Veronica noticed that Daniel was rubbing his stomach. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just a stomachache. I've been pretty nervous and tense lately, what with all this stuff going on."

Veronica gazed at him. "I've been so busy thinking about how _I_ felt about this whole thing with you that I never thought about how _you_ must be feeling. I've just gained a brother. You've suddenly gained an entire family."

Daniel's lips curved into a tiny smile. "It's been . . . a little overwhelming."

"I bet it has."

Daniel looked at his sister earnestly. "I'm here for you, too, if you want to talk, Veronica."

She gave him a little smile. "Thank you. It means a lot that you would offer. Well, um, I'm going to go." She opened her car door. "Oh, and, Daniel? Call me Vee."

He nodded and smiled. "Vee."

He watched her drive away, then headed for his own car, feeling like the final link to his new family had been forged. 


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Daniel dropped the two Alka-Seltzer tablets into the glass of water and watched them start to dissolve, filling the cup with scintillating bubbles. Once they'd dissolved completely, he drank the water, grimacing at the taste.

Setting the glass down, he rubbed at his stomach again. The stomachache had been bad enough, but, now, he was feeling a little nauseous, too. Maybe it wasn't just the stress of what had been going on, and he was actually getting an ulcer. Oh, wouldn't Janet have a thing or two to say about _that_.

Perhaps he should just go home. It was Sunday, and it was supposed to be a day off for him. But if he did go home, all he'd end up doing was sitting around since he didn't feel up to doing any chores. He might as well stay and get something accomplished.

Daniel returned his attention to the translation before him. At around one o'clock Sam came in with an alien device that was covered in strange symbols.

"Is that the thing SG-5 found?" Daniel asked.

"Yep. I've finished scanning it, and it's not giving off any energy readings or traces of radiation, so it's your turn to take a crack at figuring it out. General Hammond wants you to see if you can decipher the writing before I attempt to open it up."

Daniel studied the thing, turning it around in his hands. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

Sam sat on the edge of the desk. "I didn't see you at lunch. Skipping meals again?"

"I'm just not hungry."

"Are you still tense about this stuff with your family?"

"Well, for a few blessed hours I wasn't, between the time I went home last night and about halfway here this morning. Kate called my cell and sprang upon me the news that she's been calling pretty much every relative under the sun and telling them all about me, and there are now a couple dozen people who are all dying to meet me," his lips curved into big, fake smile, "including several unmarried second and third cousins."

Sam fought to keep the smile off her face. "Oh, boy."

"Yes. I suspect that she didn't tell me this last night at dinner because she didn't want me to have a heart attack in front of the children."

Sam tried really hard not to laugh. Poor Daniel.

"I'm considering moving to another planet," he remarked.

Sam grinned. "Well, look at it this way, Daniel. Once you've met all those other relatives, you'll probably hear from most of them only at Christmas time," she paused, "except perhaps for some of those unmarried second and third cousins."

Daniel gave her a glare. "Thanks for making me feel so much better, Sam."

This time, the major couldn't hold back her laugh. She rose fully to her feet. "Well, I need to get back to work. Call me if you solve the mysteries of that thing."

"I will."

Daniel unlocked the mysteries of the device three hours later when he figured out the key to the strange symbols carved all over it. It turned out that it was nothing more than an alien "brain teaser" toy. After letting Sam know, he wrote up his report, then got to work on what he'd need for SG-1's mission tomorrow.

That evening, Daniel still had no appetite, still had the stomachache, and still had the nausea. He came to the conclusion that he was going to have to go to the infirmary in the morning and tell Janet, as much as he really didn't want to. She'd likely tell Hammond to reschedule the mission while she subjected Daniel to a million tests. Just great.

When Daniel woke up the next morning, he found that the stomachache was virtually gone, though he was still feeling a touch queasy. Maybe whatever was causing this was going away.

Though Daniel still had no appetite, he forced himself to eat a couple of pieces of toast and some juice, then went into work. Upon arriving, there was no sign of the stomach pain returning to its former level, and the nausea really wasn't all that bad. Daniel had a little internal struggle with himself and decided to go ahead and go on the mission. It probably had all just been caused by the stress, as he'd believed. Or perhaps it had been some kind of stomach bug that finally ran its course.

An hour later, SG-1 exited the Stargate onto a world that, at one time, must have been home to a booming civilization that, based on the ruins in the distance, originally came from Japan.

It took the team well over three hours to cover the rocky, uneven terrain between them and the city, which was built on a rise and was probably visible for miles around.

"Well, it's definitely Japanese," Daniel remarked, studying the architecture and writing on some of the walls. He read a passage. "This talks about the Shinto god of war, Hachiman. I'm assuming he's a Goa'uld."

"Indeed," Teal'c confirmed.

"Well, we've got a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it," Jack said. "Carter, Teal'c, you head southwest. Daniel and I will go southeast. Check-ins every half-hour."

"Yes, sir," Sam responded. She and the Jaffa headed off into the depths of the city. Daniel and Jack did likewise in the opposite direction.

"So, how are things going with the family?" Jack asked after they'd been exploring for around twenty minutes.

"Okay for the most part. Um, Vee lost a good friend Saturday night, a car accident."

"That's too bad. Is she all right?"

"As well as can be expected. She was at the woman's bedside when she died."

"That's rough."

"Yeah."

Jack glanced at the archeologist. "About this whole thing with you being Hammond's son. I'm fine with it, you know. I think it's a good thing."

"Thanks, Jack."

They continued searching the ruins. Inside one of the buildings, Daniel saw a beautiful, elaborately painted vase up on a shelf and reached up to get it. A sharp, stabbing pain in his lower right side made him gasp and grab the spot.

"You okay?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, I . . . I think I just pulled something."

Jack saw where his hand was. "Ooh, groin pull. Those aren't fun."

Daniel winced. "No, I guess they're not."

Deciding to leave the vase where it was, Daniel left the structure with Jack, pushing the pain to the back of his mind. Well, so much for escaping a trip to the infirmary. He wouldn't be able to hide this.

Half an hour later, Daniel was beginning to wonder if he'd torn something rather than just pulled it. The pain was getting progressively worse, making it difficult to walk upright.

When Jack turned around at one point to see Daniel hunched over, leaning against a column, a hand pressed to that same spot on his lower right side, he said, "Okay, that's it. We're getting you back through the gate. And don't you dare say you're fine."

"I wasn't going to say that," Daniel said through clenched teeth. "I think I might have torn something."

Jack got on the radio. "Carter, come in."

"Carter here, sir."

"Head back to the gate. Daniel's gone and done something to himself. He thinks he's torn a muscle or something down near his groin area."

"Ouch. Is he all right?"

"He's hurting. We're probably going to have to take it slow, so it's going to take us longer to get there than you. Call ahead to the SGC and tell them to have a gurney waiting."

"Yes, sir."

Jack turned to Daniel and put an arm around his waist. "Come on. Let's go."

The return trip was a nightmare for Daniel. With every yard they traveled, it got harder and harder for him to walk. The pain had progressed to the point where it felt like he was being stabbed by a combat knife. Jack was having to bear increasingly more of his weight.

Finally, Daniel couldn't walk any more.

"I have to stop, Jack. I need to sit down."

The colonel helped him over to a low wall and eased him down onto it.

Jack was starting to get worried, concerned that this was more than just a torn muscle. Daniel was not a wimp when it came to pain, so, judging by how he was acting, he was in a whole hell of a lot of it.

"Sit there and relax for a bit," Jack said. "I'm going to contact Carter again."

The colonel walked away several yards and got on the radio. "Carter," he said quietly.

"Yes, sir?"

"I need you to get to our position as quickly as possible."

"Sir? What's wrong?"

"Daniel's getting worse, and I'm starting to think it's not a torn muscle."

"Oh no. What do you think it is?"

"I don't know, but I doubt he's going to be able to walk any further. We need to make some kind of litter to carry him."

"We'll be right there, sir."

A cry of pain made Jack whirl around in time to witness Daniel crumple into a heap on the ground. When Jack reached him, he was curled into a fetal position, arms clutching his belly.

"Oh, God," the archeologist gasped, eyes clamped tightly shut.

Jack grasped his arm. "Daniel, Carter and Teal'c are on the way. We're going to get you to the gate."

"I-I can't walk, Jack."

"I know. We'll take care of it." The colonel touched Daniel's forehead and discovered that it felt a bit warm. "You've got a fever, Daniel. This isn't a torn muscle."

Daniel moaned. "Janet's going to kill me," he said breathlessly. "I should have gone to the infirmary."

Jack looked at him sharply. "Have you been sick?"

"Just . . . just a stomachache and some . . . some nausea. I felt better this morning, so I thought it was going away."

"Dammit, Daniel. You should have known better. You do not go on a mission when you're feeling sick!"

"I'm s—" Daniel's apology was interrupted by another cry of pain. He drew his knees up even tighter to his chest.

Jack got on the radio. "Carter, you had better start running. You need to get here on the double."

"We already are running, sir," Sam responded.

It took another ten minutes for Sam and Teal'c to get there, throughout which Jack had to helplessly sit by and listen to Daniel's moans and gasps of pain.

Sam rushed up to the archeologist and went to her knees.

"Daniel? Daniel, where's the pain."

"L-lower r-right side."

"He was already sick when we left on the mission, Carter," Jack told her.

"What?! Why didn't he say anything?"

"Obviously, because he's an idiot!"

Sam looked back down at the suffering archeologist. "Daniel, how long have you been sick?"

"Stomachache started Friday night. Nausea started yesterday." Daniel moaned. "T-thought it was just from all the stress."

Jack turned to Teal'c. "Start making a litter. There's a tree over there. Remove a couple of the straightest limbs."

Teal'c hurried off to his task. Sam was taking Daniel's temperature with a forehead thermometer from the first-aid kit.

"It's a very low fever," she announced, "barely one hundred, but that doesn't mean this isn't serious."

"Any idea what it might be?" Jack asked.

"Sir, I only have first-aid training. I'm not even close to being a medic. There are probably a lot of things it could be. I wish we could contact the SGC, get someone here. It's going to take a long time to get back to the gate."

"As soon as we get underway, I'm going to send you ahead to the gate. Tell them to send a medical team through to meet us on the way."

Sam nodded and turned her attention back to Daniel. Seeing the way he was holding his stomach, a sudden, horrid suspicion came into her mind.

"Daniel, you said that the pain was on your lower right side?"

He nodded.

"Do you think you can turn on your back for a moment?"

With Sam's help, Daniel got on his back, though being in that position made the pain worse.

Sam stared at his belly. "Where exactly is the pain?"

Daniel laid his fingers over a spot around halfway between his belly button and the front of his hip bone.

"Okay, I'm going to do something, Daniel, but it might make the pain worse. Are you ready?"

He nodded, eyes tightly closed.

Taking a deep breath, Sam laid her fingers over the spot Daniel had indicated and gently pressed down.

"Does that make it hurt more?"

"Not . . . not really."

Sam quickly released pressure. Daniel screamed. He heaved upward, then crashed back to the ground and curled into a tight ball.

"God, I'm sorry, Daniel! I'm sorry!" Sam cried.

"Carter, what's going on?" Jack asked.

"Sir, I think it's his appendix. We need to get him to the gate right away. If it ruptures, he could die."

"Shit."

Jack leapt to his feet and hurried over to help Teal'c remove all the smaller branches from the limbs he'd blasted off the tree with his staff weapon. Then they made a litter using Jack's and Sam's jackets, slipping the limbs through the arms. While they were doing that, Sam gave Daniel some morphine, giving him just a half-dose because she wasn't sure if it was okay to give him the drug.

Getting Daniel on the litter wasn't easy, the archeologist not wanting to uncurl from his fetal position. At last he was on it. Jack grabbed the back handles, and Teal'c got the front.

"Go, Carter," the colonel said. "Get to the gate as fast as you can."

"Yes, sir." Sam paused and met his eyes. "Colonel, from what I remember about appendicitis, if the pain suddenly goes away, it's . . . it's not a good thing." Her eyes told Jack how very bad a thing it was.

Jack and Teal'c hurried through the ancient city almost at a run, trying to ignore the moans of the man they carried. When they reached the edge of the city, they had no choice but to slow down, the terrain making it impossible for them to keep up the same pace.

With every rock, and hole, and gully that they had to bypass, Jack gave a curse. Every time he stumbled over something he'd failed to see and Daniel cried out a little louder, he cursed some more. It had taken them over three hours to get to the ruins. It was going to take a lot longer to get back.

Jack didn't know how long they'd been traveling when Daniel said something that turned his blood to ice.

"It doesn't really hurt anymore."

"That's . . . that's good, Daniel," Jack lied.

"Maybe I can walk now."

"No, you stay there. You're still sick." Jack looked at the man at the front of the litter. "Teal'c."

The Jaffa looked over his shoulder. The colonel's eyes told him that they needed to go faster. They went faster.

It was a while later when Daniel said, "It's starting to hurt again, but it's not as bad and not in that one spot anymore. I'm sure glad that other pain is gone."

"Yeah, that's great, Daniel," Jack murmured, trying not to let the younger man see the fear on his face.

"I'm really thirsty, though. I feel hot."

Daniel fell silent after that, his eyes closing. The mantra "Faster, faster," kept going through Jack's mind through the interminable minutes that followed, but they couldn't go faster. They were already in danger of tripping and falling.

Glancing down at Daniel sometime later, Jack saw that he was not looking good. His face was pale and bathed in sweat, his breathing fast and shallow.

Just then, his eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, God. I'm gonna be sick," he moaned.

Jack told Teal'c to stop. They set the litter down, and Jack helped Daniel roll onto his side. The archeologist promptly threw up, making sounds of pain as his stomach heaved and evacuated its meager contents.

Finally, he flopped onto his back, holding his stomach. Jack tenderly wiped his face with a dampened handkerchief and gave him a sip from the canteen.

Daniel met his eyes. "I'm really sick aren't I," he said in a calm, quiet voice.

"Yeah, Danny, you are," Jack admitted, not backing down from the probing blue gaze.

Daniel nodded slightly. "Jack, if I don't make it, tell Dad that—"

"No," Jack interrupted angrily. "I'm not going to tell him anything, Daniel, because you are _not_ going to die. You hear me? There is no damn way that I'm going to tell Hammond that his son died because some little worm of an organ got the better of him. You've survived ribbon devices, and staff blasts, and sarcophagus addiction, and a dozen other things, so you are damn well going to survive this. You got that?"

Daniel closed his eyes. "Yes, sir," he whispered.

"Let's go, Teal'c," Jack said shortly. The two men lifted the litter back up and resumed the journey.

Jack could not describe the level of relief he felt when, a short while later, he saw an SG team and medical personnel hurrying toward them, Janet and Sam in the lead.

"How is he, Colonel?" the doctor asked as they came running up.

"Not good, Doc." Jack met her gaze. "I think it ruptured."

The announcement made the concern in the doctor's eyes deepen dramatically.

The litter was put down, and Janet got to work examining her patient.

"Daniel, can you hear me?"

Daniel's eyes slowly blinked open. "Janet? Are we in the infirmary?"

"No, not yet. I decided to come meet you partway. Daniel, describe how you feel."

"My stomach hurts quite a bit."

"Where?"

He waved his hand about over his abdomen. "Kind of all over. It's not as bad as the other pain, the one I had before."

"Okay, what else?"

"My stomach feels tight and . . . swollen. I'm having chills and feel hot. I feel sick. I threw up once." He looked at Janet. "What's wrong with me?"

"I can't be sure, Daniel, but it sounds like your appendix has ruptured and that you now have peritonitis."

"That doesn't sound good."

"No, it's not." Janet laid a hand on his shoulder. "But we're going to get you to the infirmary and take care of it."

After performing a quick examination and asking a few more questions, Janet got to her feet and stepped away a couple paces with Jack, Sam and Teal'c.

"How bad is it, Janet?" Sam asked.

"Well, it's definitely not good. He's showing clear signs of peritonitis. We need to get him to the infirmary as fast as absolutely possible." The doctor looked at Jack. "You look exhausted, Colonel. One of SG-8 will take over for you."

"I'm fine," Jack insisted.

Janet grabbed his wrists and turned his hands up, revealing the open blisters and swollen palms. "No, you're not." She turned to the other man who had been carrying the litter.

"I am fine," Teal'c stated before she could ask. "I will continue carrying Daniel Jackson."

Janet hooked Daniel up to an I.V. The strongest member of SG-8 took Jack's place at the back of the litter, and they all resumed the journey, Janet keeping pace at Daniel's side, Sam on the other side, her eyes going often to her best friend.

For as long as she lived, Sam would never forget the look she saw on General Hammond's face when she came through the gate with the news that his son had collapsed, most likely from acute appendicitis. She'd often seen concern on the man's face, deep worry many other times, but she'd never seen fear until that moment. She knew that he wanted to rush through the gate to Daniel's side, and she could only imagine how terribly hard it was for him to watch her and the others go through without him.

She did not want to see what his face would look like if someone had to tell him that his son was dead. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Note of Interest:** At the beginning of the Season 3 episode "Nemesis", Daniel was recovering from surgery after getting acute appendicitis. What some fans do not know is that the reason that was in the episode is that it really did happen. Michael Shanks actually got appendicitis and had to have surgery to remove the organ. Because of his illness and the surgery, he couldn't be in the episode. It was decided that giving Daniel the very illness that the actor who played him got would be the perfect way to write him out of the episode. I am not certain of this, but I believe that the appendectomy scar we saw in Small Victories many have been the real one.

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN

George stared fiercely at the Stargate through the briefing room window. Fear was a tight knot in his belly. He'd felt fear many times in the past, fear for a friend, fear for the welfare of someone under his command, but _this_ fear, this horrible, sick feeling that made his chest tight and his gut clench, this he hadn't felt in a long time, not since the doctor told him that his beloved Margaret had cancer. Months later, he'd had to watch his wife die. What if he had to do the same with Daniel?

_'Please, dear God,'_ he prayed. _'Please don't let my son die.' _

At that moment, the gate began dialing. As George rushed down to the control room, the announcement of an off-world activation came over the speakers.

"It's SG-1, sir," Harriman said once the wormhole had connected.

"Open the iris," the general commanded as he hurried for the staircase. He was in the gate room when the off-world travelers came through. George's eyes instantly went to the litter carrying his son. Daniel lay unmoving, his face very pale.

"Janet?" he inquired, hurrying to Daniel's side.

"It's pretty bad, sir," the doctor said. "I'm almost certain we're dealing with a ruptured appendix and peritonitis. I don't think we should wait for the lab tests. We need to get him into surgery right away. Is Doctor Warner ready?"

"Yes, they're all ready in the O.R."

With George and the rest of SG-1 following, Daniel was rushed to the infirmary, being taken straight to the O.R. as Janet shot out orders to her nurses for a whole bunch of drugs with long names, only one of which, penicillin, was recognized by the four non-medical witnesses.

And then the waiting began. Jack, Sam and Teal'c were no strangers to waiting for word on Daniel, but, this time, there was a fourth person waiting with them. The general spent a lot of the time slowly pacing, clearly lost in thought.

At one point he came to a sudden halt.

"I need to call Kate and Vee," he said, then walked away. He found the nearest phone and dialed the number of his eldest daughter.

"Kate, it's Dad."

"Dad, what's wrong?" she asked, instantly having recognized from his voice that something bad had happened.

"It's your brother, Katie. He's very sick. The doctors think that his appendix has ruptured."

Kate began to cry. "Oh, no. Is it really bad?"

"I'm afraid it is, sweetheart. Because of where he was, it took a very long time to get him back here. By the time we got him to the infirmary, he was very, very sick. He's in surgery now."

"Daddy, I want to be there."

"Oh, honey, you can't. You can't come down to this part of the base."

"Why not?" Kate angrily demanded to know. "What the hell could be so top secret about the infirmary?"

"It isn't the infirmary itself, honey. It's the lower levels of the base as a whole."

"Then I'll keep my eyes shut! I'll-I'll-I'll cover my ears! I'll do whatever you want me to! Please, Dad. Please."

Hammond closed his eyes. Dear God. How could he tell her no?

"All right, Katie. You can come," he said instead. "I'll have to make a few arrangements. Someone will be waiting for you at the front gate."

"Thank you," Kate whispered. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

George's next call was to his other daughter.

"Oh my God," Veronica gasped. "Daddy, a burst appendix can kill people."

"I know, sweetheart, but Daniel is getting the best care possible. He's in surgery as we speak, and we have some of the best doctors in the country right here on base."

"I'm coming over there, Daddy, and I don't want you telling me that I can't. I don't give a damn if it's all top secret."

"Your sister is probably already on the way, honey. There will be a car waiting for you at the main gate."

After getting off the phone with Veronica, General Hammond made arrangements for someone to meet his daughters at the gate and escort them straight to the infirmary. He then went to the control room and told Sergeant Harriman that, if there were any off-world activations, he was not to announce them verbally, though he was to go ahead and set off the usual alarm. Lastly, he got on the P.A. system and made the announcement that there would be two visitors on the base who did not have security clearance, that those visitors were going directly to the infirmary, and that everyone in the infirmary and on the rest of that floor were to refrain from talking about anything of a classified nature, including all references to missions and the Stargate. Any objects of alien origin were to be removed from view. He also passed on the information that, for the time being, gate activations would not be verbally announced.

Once that was all done, George went back to the infirmary. The three members of SG-1 looked at him when he got there.

"You're letting Kate and Vee come?" Jack asked.

"I couldn't say no, Jack, not after Kate begged me." George looked at Teal'c. "Teal'c, I need to ask that you cover your emblem."

"That will not be an inconvenience, General Hammond," the Jaffa responded. He left to go get a cap.

"Sir, Daniel is going to be all right," Jack said. "He might not look like it on the outside, but he's tough. He'd have been dead long before now, if he wasn't."

"I know he's strong, Jack. He's one of the strongest men I've met. But I've seen this before. A young man I was on a mission with in Nam developed appendicitis. He was in so much pain that we had to gag him to muffle his screams. And then the pain stopped, at least for a while. We watched him get sicker and sicker as we tried to get back to our unit. He was still alive when we got him to the doctor, but he died an hour later. They couldn't save him."

Sam was really scared, too, but she felt like she had to say something to ease the base commander's fear.

"Sir, that was a long time ago," she said. "We've come so far in medicine since then."

The general nodded, saying nothing.

Daniel was still in surgery when Kate and Veronica got to the base, the two women having arrived almost at the same time. They were taken straight to where their father and Daniel's teammates waited.

George pulled them both into his arms.

"Any word yet?" Kate asked her father.

"No. He's still in surgery." George led them over to the others. "Kate, Veronica, you already know Jack. This is Samantha Carter and Teal'c. They both work here and are very good friends of Daniel's."

Everyone said hello, then they all took seats, Kate and Veronica sitting on either side of their father, all holding hands tightly.

It seemed like a very long time before Janet appeared, causing everybody to rise to their feet.

"How is he?" George asked.

"Doctor Warner succeeded in removing Daniel's appendix. He also did a lavage to wash out the microorganisms infecting the peritoneum. We've put Daniel on massive antibiotic therapy to deal with the bacterial infection. As long as there are no serious complications, Daniel should be all right, but I have to stress that there are no guarantees. The long delay in treatment made this situation a lot worse than it should have been. I can't tell you how much I wish that Daniel had come to me when he first started feeling sick."

"Oh no," Veronica gasped. "He had a stomachache Saturday night. I noticed that he seemed to be hurting and asked him about it. I should have said something to Dad."

"You couldn't have known it was serious, honey," George said. "This isn't your fault. You can rest assured, however, that I will be having a stern talk with your brother."

Jack almost smiled. Ah, Daniel was going to be finding out how pissed a father could get when his child does something really stupid. The colonel wondered if he could arrange for a ringside seat for the show.

"Daniel's in Post-Op," Janet said. "He's still very weak and sick and will be put in the ICU so that he can be monitored closely."

"Can we see him?" Kate asked.

The doctor nodded. "Once he's settled in the ICU. Someone will let you know when you can see him. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to get back to him."

Knowing that they'd be far more comfortable, George took his daughters to one of the VIP rooms, telling them that he'd come get them when Daniel was ready for visitors.

SG-1 got their own post-mission check-ups, and Jack's abused hands were treated. Then they took care of the debriefing.

"Thank you for getting my son to the gate as quickly as you did," the general said. "I've carried a litter myself more than once, so I know that it's not easy." He looked at Jack. "How are the hands?"

"They sting a bit, but I've felt worse."

Sam spoke up. "Sir, I know that what Daniel did was foolish, but I also know that he's been pretty stressed out by all the stuff going on. Even before he found out about the whole thing with his mom and you, he was upset about his grandfather. He said that he understood why Nick chose to stay with those aliens, but I think that, deep down inside, it hurt him. I think he felt like Nick was rejecting and abandoning him all over again."

"With good reason," Jack muttered, still ticked off that Nick had picked a bunch of giant aliens over his own grandson.

"I know Daniel's been suffering some indigestion over the last few days, so it's understandable that he'd think the stomachache was just more of the same."

George nodded. "Thank you, Major. I will take that into consideration."

An airman came in and told them that Doctor Fraiser had called to say that Daniel was in the ICU and could have visitors. Jack, Sam and Teal'c went straight to the infirmary, George stopping to get Kate and Veronica.

When the general entered the ICU, he was tentatively considering giving Daniel a gentle dressing down, sort of a precursor to the far sterner lecture the archeologist would be getting once he was stronger. That thought went right out of George's head once he saw his son lying on the bed, looking so pale and fragile. He looked like someone on the edge of death, and the fear George had mostly conquered rose back to the fore. Seeing the looks on the faces of his daughters, he knew that they were scared, too.

Sam was standing beside Daniel, his lax hand in hers, a distressed expression on her face. Teal'c was frowning, and Jack's face was totally expressionless, which meant that he was clamping down on his emotions with an iron fist.

As Daniel's family approached, his teammates stepped aside for them. Kate took the place Sam had been, grasping the same hand she had held. Veronica stood beside her. George went to the other side of the bed. He laid a hand on Daniel's head.

"Daniel? It's Dad." When he got no reply, he looked at Janet, who'd come into the room.

"He might be drifting in and out of consciousness for a while, sir," she said. "He's only been awake for brief moments so far."

"He looks horrible, Janet," Sam said, speaking aloud what they were all thinking. "Is he really going to be all right?"

"We're still battling the infection, Sam. It'll take a while for it to completely clear up, even with all the medications we have him on. Fortunately, the infection didn't spread into his blood, so it'll be easier to combat. He's also still very weak. I'm afraid he's going to have to accept being in the infirmary for a while."

"Then he is going to get though this, right?" Jack asked.

"The odds are in his favor, sir, but, like I said before, I can't guarantee it. With peritonitis, sometimes, for some reason, the patient simply does not recover, even if all the proper treatment is given. But Daniel's young, strong, and otherwise heathy, so he should be fine."

Everyone's gaze returned to the man lying on the bed. The three members of SG-1 watched as their C.O. began stroking Daniel's hair, a sad, worried look on his face. This was a George Hammond that none of them had seen before. At that moment, he wasn't a general in the United States Air Force. He wasn't the commander of the most secret base on Planet Earth. He was a father at the bedside of the son he'd come very close to losing.

Just then, Daniel moved slightly under his father's touch. He gave a soft, low moan.

"Daniel?" George said again. This time, he was rewarded with the opening of his son's eyes. He smiled down at Daniel. "Hey there."

"Dad?" Daniel whispered.

"Yes. You're going to be all right, Daniel. You're in the infirmary."

"You gave us a really bad scare, Big Brother," Kate said, trying very hard not to cry.

Daniel's eyes closed, and he sighed. "Really screwed up this time, didn't I."

"Yes, you did," George replied, "but we'll talk about that later. Right now, you just need to rest and regain your strength. You're still pretty sick."

With another sigh, Daniel slipped back into sleep.

"We should let him rest," Janet said. "I'll let you know when he wakes up more fully."

Kate and Veronica each placed a kiss on their brother's forehead, then everyone left the room.

"I'll have someone escort you back to your cars," George said to his daughters. "There's no sense in you staying here."

"Can we come back later?" Veronica asked.

"I'll make arrangements for you to visit in a couple of days. By then, Daniel should be a lot stronger."

"Give him our love, okay?" Kate said.

George smiled at her. "I will, honey."

"And wait at least a day before you rip him a new one," Veronica said with a smile.

* * *

Jack made his way to the far corner of the ICU to the only occupant in the room. Daniel was still pale, but he looked a darn sight better than he had after surgery. According to Janet, the infection was well on its way to being cleared up, and the archeologist was now out of the danger zone. He had been doing a lot of sleeping, apparently making up for all the sleep he hadn't been getting over the last few days, and this was the first time Jack had visited that Daniel looked like he could carry on a fully lucid conversation for more than fifteen minutes.

"So, I hear that you're gonna live," the colonel remarked.

"If Dad doesn't kill me."

"Well, if he does, he has a good reason. Out of all the stupid things you've done since I met you, this one goes all the way to the top of the list." Jack paused. "No, I take that back. Breaking cover to save Princess you-know-who from taking a flying leap still takes first place. And then there was deciding that you were going to stay on that planet with the universal language thingie. That's another one of my favorites. Oh, and let's not forget standing between my gun and the Destroyer of Worlds and deliberately putting yourself in the position to be killed with poison gas. You know, compared to those stellar moments of brilliance, I'm not quite sure where this one falls."

Daniel sighed wearily. "Jack, I've already been raked over the coals by Janet, and Sam and Teal'c have talked to me about it, too. I got the point. I should have told Janet I was sick, and I shouldn't have gone on the mission when I still wasn't feeling well. It won't happen again. I've already sworn that to all three of them."

"And if you know what's good for you, you won't break that promise. Oh, wait. That's right. You apparently _don't_ know what's good for you."

Daniel sighed again, shaking his head slightly. He wasn't surprised that Jack was ticked off. He'd fully expected this.

"How are your hands?" he asked, looking at the bandages.

"Fine. Arms are a bit sore, though. You're no lightweight, you know."

Daniel met his eyes. "Thanks for carrying me out. I know that it wasn't easy."

Jack nodded. "Next time you collapse on a mission, just try to do it a bit closer to the gate, okay?"

Daniel smiled slightly. "I'll do my best."

There was a moment of silence between the two men, both of them thinking about the fact that, if things had gone differently, there would never have been another trip through the gate for Daniel.

"Well, while you're recovering, I am going to be sitting by a lovely lake in Minnesota, catching bass," the colonel said.

"You are?"

"Yep. Since you're going to be out of commission for a while, the rest of us get to take some leave. Teal'c said something about going to visit Rya'c. I don't know what Carter's going to do."

"Oh. Well, have fun."

"I intend to."

Just then, General Hammond entered the room.

"Colonel," he greeted.

"General." Jack looked at Daniel with a little smirk. "I'll say some nice words at your funeral, if you don't survive." That got him a glare and a sarcastic, "Thanks, Jack," from the archeologist.

The colonel departed, leaving Daniel alone with his father.

"How are you feeling, Son?" George asked.

"Better." Daniel paused. "Dad, I'm sorry about what I did. I know it was stupid, I know I should have reported to the infirmary when I got sick, and I know I shouldn't have gone on that mission. Both Janet and Jack have yelled at me, and Teal'c has given me his patented Jaffa scowl and told me that what I did was not wise. Sam didn't yell or scowl. She just told me I shouldn't have done it in a way that made me feel like I was a six-year-old being gently chastised by his mother, which I have to say was way worse than the yelling and Teal'c's scowl. I've definitely gotten the message."

George sat in the chair beside Daniel's bed. "Yes, I figured that your teammates and Doctor Fraiser would have already told you how they feel about it. I'm here to tell you something else." He looked into Daniel's eyes. "When Major Carter came through the gate and told me that you had collapsed from what she believed was appendicitis, I was terrified in a way I haven't been since Margaret was diagnosed with cancer."

The admission made Daniel's gaze drop, tightness beginning to form in his chest.

George continued. "All during the hours that followed, that fear kept growing. I kept wondering what I'd do if we lost you, how I would tell your sisters that you were dead . . . how I could keep watching SG-1 leave and come back through the Stargate, knowing that you would never again be with them."

Tears began to sting Daniel's eyes, his throat aching.

"While you were in surgery, I had to call your sisters and tell them what happened. Kate begged me to let her come here, Daniel. She begged. I couldn't say no."

Daniel closed his eyes tightly, a tear breaking free to slip down his cheek.

George laid his hand on Daniel's arm. "I love you, Son," George said in an emotion-filled voice. "We all love you, not just your family but also your teammates and your other friends. Now, I know you had no idea that your illness was serious, that you thought it was just part of the emotional upheavals you've been suffering, but whenever you are in a situation that affects your health or welfare, I want you to remember that you're not alone, Daniel. You're no longer that child who had no one to love you, no one who would grieve for the rest of their lives if they lost you."

Daniel's tears were now sliding down his face freely, his breath catching in his throat. George stood and gently pulled his son into his arms. Ignoring the pain of the movement, Daniel held on.

When George finally let Daniel go, he noticed the wince of pain.

"Do you need some more pain medication?" he asked.

Daniel wiped the wetness from his face. "No, I'm all right. Janet says that it's going to be sore for quite a while. I'm not going to be getting out of here any time soon." Daniel made a little sound that was almost a laugh. "You know, it's funny. After everything we've been through these past few years, all the ways I've almost died – _have_ died on occasion – it's my appendix that lays me out. Ironic, isn't it."

George smiled. "Yes, it is." He got to his feet. "Well, I'll let you get some more rest. Is there anything I can get for you?"

"Actually, my laptop would be great. At least then I could get some work done while I'm lying here." Daniel noticed the stern look on his father's face. "Okay, no work. How about some of my books and my journal?"

George gave him a nod. "I'll see to it." He turned to go, but Daniel's voice stopped him.

"Dad?"

"Yes, Son?"

Daniel gazed into his eyes for a long moment. "I love you, too," he murmured.

George smiled, feeling the prickle of tears. He gave Daniel a little nod that held a lot of meaning, then turned and left.

* * *

Daniel walked across the grass, heading to a place he hadn't been to in a very long time. The SGC had just made it through a crisis that had threatened Earth again, not once but twice, this time by the Replicators, the mechanical enemies of the Asgard. In the process of saving the planet, Daniel came very close to losing all of his teammates once and then Jack and Teal'c a second time. The archeologist was still haunted by the order he'd had to give to torpedo the submarine upon which his two male teammates had been trapped.

At last, Daniel came to a stop, as did the man beside him. Daniel looked at his father.

"Would you like a moment alone with them?" George asked. Getting a nod, he walked away several yards.

Daniel looked down at the two gravestones.

"Hey, Mom, Dad. I, um . . . know that I haven't been here for quite a while. I've been busy doing some pretty important work. You'd be amazed by all the things I've seen and done. I hope that you'd be proud of what I've accomplished. Um . . . Nick and I had sort of a reconciliation. He told me that . . . that he was proud of me. That meant a lot. He even let me call him Grandpa." Daniel's gaze went to his mother's headstone. "Mom, I found my biological father. I know you'd be happy about that. I'm a part of his family now. I have two sisters, and nieces, and a bunch of other relatives that I have yet to meet. It feels so good to be part of a family again." Tears stung his eyes. "I still miss you both. I know that I always will. I wish you were still here so that I could share all the incredible things I've learned with you." Daniel smiled slightly. "But for the first time in a long time, I really am happy, and I know that I'm going to be okay." He drew in a deep breath. "I love you, Mom and Dad."

Turning away, Daniel went to his father's side. "Do you want to, um. . . ."

George nodded. "I'll be just a moment."

The general went to the graves and knelt beside the one holding the mother of his son.

"Hello, Claire. It's George. I wish I could look in your eyes and tell you about the joy I feel every day in the knowledge that I have found the son you and I created that night. He is the best son any man could have and the finest person anyone could be. I know how proud you must be of him. He is a precious gift, not only to me and my family, but also to the world. Without him, Earth would now be a very dark place. He's saved us all."

George laid his hand on the gravestone. "I swear to you that I will look after Daniel the best that I am able. I also swear that he will never be alone. He will always have family, and he will always be loved."

The general got to his feet. "Goodbye, Claire. May God keep you in the palm of his hand."

George joined his son, who was looking back at the graves.

"For most of my life, I've felt like . . . like I was alone," the archeologist said quietly, "that I had to keep myself from needing people, from getting so close to someone that it would hurt too much to say goodbye, because I thought that anyone who came into my life would eventually leave. After losing Sha're and everything I'd found with the Abydonians, I was more certain of that than ever. But I realize now that I was wrong. Yes, I could still lose people that I love, but I do know now that I'm not alone, not anymore. I have people who love me, and, for one of the only times in my life, I really feel like I belong."

George pulled his son into a warm, tender embrace. "You _do_ belong, Daniel. You belong with us, both your blood family and the family you have at the SGC."

Saying a final silent farewell to his parents, Daniel turned with his father and headed away across the graveyard, knowing that, no matter what the future might bring, he'd never again be alone.

THE END 


End file.
